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Contents
Changes to this document: February 2016 ................................................ 7
How to use this guide .................................................................................... 8
Virtual Storage Console for VMware vSphere overview ........................ 11
How VSC for VMware features work with optional plug-ins, virtual appliances .... 12
Provisioning and cloning datastores and virtual machines ....................................... 12
How VSC for VMware vSphere optimizes I/O performance of misaligned
virtual machines ................................................................................................... 13
Methods for migrating virtual machines ................................................................... 13
Backing up and restoring virtual machines and datastores ....................................... 14
Protection of system resources using lock management ........................................... 15
VSC for VMware vSphere architecture .................................................................... 15
Planning your VSC for VMware vSphere installation ............................ 17
VSC for VMware vSphere installation overview ..................................... 21
VSC for VMware vSphere supported configurations ............................................... 23
Initial installation of VSC for VMware vSphere ...................................................... 25
Installing VSC for VMware vSphere using the installation wizard .............. 25
Installing VSC for VMware vSphere using silent mode ............................... 26
Considerations when upgrading VSC for VMware vSphere .................................... 26
Removing vSphere Web Client UI extensions from vCenter Server ............ 28
Performing a standard VSC for VMware vSphere upgrade installation ....... 29
Upgrading VSC for VMware vSphere from a 32-bit installation to a 64-
bit installation .......................................................................................... 30
Uninstalling VSC for VMware vSphere using Add/Remove Programs ................... 32
Uninstalling VSC for VMware vSphere using silent mode .......................... 32
Installing plug-ins, virtual appliances supported by VSC for
VMware vSphere ................................................................................... 33
NetApp NFS Plug-in for VAAI installation .............................................................. 33
VASA Provider for clustered Data ONTAP installation and registration ................. 33
Configuring your VSC for VMware vSphere environment .................... 35
ESX server and guest operating system setup ........................................................... 35
Configuring ESX server multipathing and timeout settings ......................... 35
Timeout values for guest operating systems ................................................. 38
VSC for VMware vSphere configuration .................................................................. 43
Registering VSC for VMware vSphere with vCenter Server ........................ 43
Registering VSC for VMware vSphere with SnapCenter ............................. 44
Registering VASA Provider for ONTAP with VSC for VMware vSphere ... 45
Regenerating an SSL certificate for VSC for VMware vSphere ................... 47
Replacing an SSL certificate for VSC for VMware vSphere with CA-
signed certificates .................................................................................... 48
VSC for VMware vSphere port requirements ............................................... 49
Performing VSC for VMware vSphere tasks across multiple vCenter Servers ........ 50
4 | VSC 6.2.1 for VMware vSphere Installation and Administration Guide
Information about removing vSphere Web Client user interface (UI) extensions has been updated
to call out directory differences between vSphere 5.x and vSphere 6.x.
Removing vSphere Web Client UI extensions from vCenter Server on page 28
If you use backup policies, VSC now displays information about the policy that was used with a
specific backup job.
VSC has added a column containing this information when you perform a mount, restore, or
attach operation.
Note: Backup polices are supported only when you register VSC with SnapCenter.
VSC supports Raw Device Mappings that are hosted on NetApp storage when performing backup
and restore operations.
In general, this support is transparent to the user.
VSC also supports VMware virtual volumes (VVOLs) for provisioning operations. You can use
VASA Provider for ONTAP to create and manage VVOLs. VVOLs accept storage capability profiles,
which you can create and manage from the VASA Provider section of the VSC GUI. The VASA
Provider for Clustered Data ONTAP User's Guide provides information for setting up and working
with VVOLs.
Note: At this time, VSC does not support VVOLs for the following operations: back up, restore,
clone, optimize, and migrate.
8
Perform online alignments and migrate virtual machines singularly and in groups into new
or existing datastores
You can use VSC to quickly check the alignment status of virtual machines. If there are alignment
issues with the virtual machines, you can, in most cases, resolve those issues without having to
power down the virtual machines.
To provide security while performing tasks, VSC supports role-based access control (RBAC) at two
levels:
If access control is not an issue, you can log in as administrator and have access to all the features
that VSC provides.
Tip: The View privilege is required for all users who do not have administrator privileges. Without
this privilege, these users cannot see the VSC GUI.
12 | VSC 6.2.1 for VMware vSphere Installation and Administration Guide
As a vCenter Server plug-in, VSC is available to all vSphere Clients that connect to the vCenter
Server. Unlike a client-side plug-in that must be installed on every vSphere Client, you install the
VSC software on a Windows server in your data center.
Related concepts
Provisioning and cloning datastores and virtual machines on page 12
How VSC for VMware vSphere optimizes I/O performance of misaligned virtual machines on
page 13
Backing up and restoring virtual machines and datastores on page 14
Authentication and user management with vCenter RBAC and Data ONTAP RBAC on page 57
In addition, it is a good practice to have the NFS Plug-in for VMware VAAI installed before you
perform provisioning and cloning operations. The plug-in can improve performance during the
operations.
Note: VSC does not support IPv6. If you have IPv6 configured on a LIF, VSC cannot use any
Storage Virtual Machines (SVMs) from that cluster.
Related concepts
Deploying virtual machines on NetApp storage on page 85
Related tasks
Provisioning datastores on page 85
Related tasks
Optimizing performance by aligning the I/O of misaligned virtual machines non-disruptively on
page 101
Migrating virtual machines to a new or existing datastore on page 93
You can restore a backup copy whenever you need to. The restore feature provides several options,
including:
Restoring a datastore, an entire virtual machine, or particular disks from a virtual machine
Verifying that the backup copy is correct by mounting it to a different host, checking the backup
content, unmounting the backup from that host, and then restoring the backup copy to the original
location
Powering the virtual machines back on automatically after a restore involving the entire backup
completes
VSC seamlessly supports backups created using its backup feature and those created using
SnapCenter. VSC automatically uses SnapCenter for backups if you are running clustered Data
ONTAP 8.2.2 or later and you have registered VSC with SnapCenter. VSC uses its backup feature in
the following situations:
SnapCenter provides features such backup policies. Because the backup policies are part of
SnapCenter, all instances of VSC that are registered with SnapCenter can access them, not just the
VSC instance where they were created.
Both VSC backups and SnapCenter backups are displayed on the same page. VSC automatically
checks your environment before displaying information about the current backups or options for
creating new backups. There are some small differences in the information displayed depending on
whether the backups were created in a VSC environment that supports SnapCenter or a standard VSC
environment. There are also differences in the options you have for performing backup and restore
operations.
Note: VSC and SnapCenter use some terms differently. For example, if you log in to SnapCenter,
you will see that SnapCenter uses the term datasets while VSC uses the term backup jobs.
Related concepts
Backing up virtual machines and datastores on page 107
Unmount a backup that was previously mounted for a file restore session
Note: When a lock occurs during a mount or unmount operation for a file restore session, the
lock is held from when the backup is mounted to the virtual machine until the backup is
unmounted.
Before you start an operation, it is a good practice to verify that the target datastore or virtual
machine is not being used by another operation.
A graphical user interface (GUI) web application that displays as a plug-in within the vSphere
Web client to provide a single management console for virtualized environments.
16 | VSC 6.2.1 for VMware vSphere Installation and Administration Guide
A server component that is controlled by the VSC service and hosts Java servlets to handle the
GUI and API calls to and from the storage systems and the ESX and ESXi hosts.
When you run VSC, you use the VMware Web vSphere client and the VMware vCenter Server. VSC
provides the following:
A single VSC plug-in with one user interface and help file
Consider... Explanation...
What are the requirements You must install the VSC software on a 64-bit Windows server with
for installing VSC? at least 4 GB of RAM. You must not install it on a client computer.
Also, the vCenter Server must be running vSphere 5.5 or later.
In addition, some of the VSC features use products that have
additional requirements and might require that you purchase a
software license.
More information:
Interoperability Matrix, which is available online at
mysupport.netapp.com/matrix
Installation overview on page 21
VSC for VMware vSphere supported configurations on page 43
What sort of role-based VSC supports both vCenter Server RBAC and Data ONTAP RBAC.
access control (RBAC) do If you plan to run VSC as an administrator, you will have all of the
you need? necessary permissions and privileges for all of the tasks.
If your company requires that you restrict access to vSphere objects,
you can assign users to the standard VSC roles to meet the vCenter
Server requirements.
You can create the recommended Data ONTAP roles by using the
RBAC User Creator for Data ONTAP tool, which is available on
the NetApp ToolChest.
If a user attempts to perform a task without the correct privileges and
permissions, the task options are grayed out.
More information:
Installation overview on page 21
Standard roles packaged with VSC for VMware vSphere on page
62
Consider... Explanation...
Is this the first time you Initial installation: The VSC installation wizard automatically
have installed VSC or is installs the VSC features.
this an upgrade? More information:
Installing VSC for VMware vSphere using the installation wizard
on page 25
Important: You must remove the Web Client user interface (UI)
extensions from the vCenter Server.
You should record information about the storage systems that are
being used and their credentials, especially those storage systems
that are being used for backup and restore operations.
After the upgrade, you should verify that all of the storage
systems were automatically discovered and that they have the
correct credentials.
If you modified any of the standard VSC roles, you should clone
those roles in order to save your changes.
VSC overwrites the standard roles with the current defaults each
time you restart the VSC service.
If you made any changes to the VSC preferences file, you should
record those changes.
Each time you install VSC, it overwrites the current preferences
files.
More information:
Upgrade installation of VSC for VMware vSphere on page 26
Removing vSphere Web Client UI extensions from vCenter
Server on page 28
Performing a standard VSC for VMware vSphere upgrade
installation on page 29
Upgrading from a 32-bit installation to a 64-bit installation of
VSC for VMware vSphere on page 30
Have you registered your After you install VSC, you must register it with the vCenter Server.
VSC installation with the More information:
vCenter Server?
Registering VSC for VMware vSphere with vCenter Server on page
43
Planning your VSC for VMware vSphere installation | 19
Consider... Explanation...
Are you running clustered If your storage systems are running clustered Data ONTAP 8.2.2 or
Data ONTAP 8.2.2 or later, you should register VSC with the SnapCenter server. Doing this
later? gives you access to the SnapCenter backup policies feature.
More information:
VSC for VMware vSphere supported configurations on page 23
Registering VSC for VMware vSphere with SnapCenter on page
44
Are your ports set up VSC uses designated ports to enable communication between its
correctly for VSC? components. If you have firewalls enabled, you might need to
manually grant access to specific ports for VSC.
More information:
VSC for VMware vSphere port requirements on page 49
Do you need to regenerate The SSL certificate is automatically generated when you install VSC.
an SSL certificate for You might need to regenerate it to create a site-specific certificate.
VSC? More information:
Regenerating an SSL certificate for VSC on page 47
Were your ESX server Although most of your ESX server values are set by default, it is a
values set correctly? good practice to check the values. These values are based on internal
testing. Depending on your environment, you might need to change
some values to improve performance.
More information:
ESX server and guest operating system setup on page 35
Configuring ESX server multipathing and timeout settings on
page 35
ESX host settings set by VSC for VMware vSphere on page 36
Do you need to set up the The guest operating system (GOS) timeout scripts set the SCSI I/O
guest operating system timeout values for supported Linux, Solaris, and Windows guest
timeout values? operating systems to provide correct failover behavior.
More information:
Timeout values for guest operating systems on page 38
Will you be performing You can add connection brokers to your system and use them to
provisioning and cloning import virtual machines into a virtual desktop infrastructure.
tasks using connection More information:
brokers?
Managing connection brokers on page 51
20 | VSC 6.2.1 for VMware vSphere Installation and Administration Guide
Consider... Explanation...
Do you plan to use storage To use storage capability profiles or to set up alarms, you must install
capability profiles? VASA Provider for clustered Data ONTAP and register VSC with the
Do you want to set up VASA Provider server. This virtual appliance is installed separately
alarms to warn you when a from VSC. After you install it, you must register VSC with the
volume or aggregate is at VASA Provider server to access its features.
nearly full capacity or More information:
when a datastore is no
longer in compliance with VASA Provider for clustered Data ONTAP installation on page
its associated storage 33
capability profile? Registering the VASA Provider for clustered Data ONTAP with
VSC for VMware vSphere on page 45
Do you plan to use NFS The plug-in provides VAAI features, such as copy offload and space
Plug-in for VAAI? reservations, which can improve the performance of some
provisioning and cloning operations.
More information:
NFS Plug-in for VAAI installation on page 33
21
Installation guidelines
To install VSC, you must have a 64-bit Windows server, and the vCenter Server must be running
vSphere 5.5 or later. For information about which versions of Windows and other features are
supported, see the Interoperability Matrix
mysupport.netapp.com/matrix
Note: You must not install this software on a client computer.
The following are some guidelines for installing the VSC software:
VSC must be installed on a local disk of the Windows server; you must not attempt to install VSC
on a network share.
Note: If you plan to register VSC with SnapCenter, you should install VSC on a different host
from the one where SnapCenter is installed.
The network must be connected between the Windows server running VSC and the management
ports of the storage controllers, the ESX/ESXi hosts, and the vCenter Server.
A reboot is not required to complete the installation; however, vSphere clients must be closed and
restarted to be able to display the VSC plug-in.
At a minimum, the display must be set to 1,280 by 1,024 pixels to view VSC pages correctly.
VSC should not be run on the same host server on which vCenter Server is installed.
SnapManager for Virtual Infrastructure (if performing backup and restore operations)
SnapMirror (required for the provisioning and cloning template distribution feature and for the
backup SnapMirror update option)
A_SIS (if using provisioning and cloning features when configuring deduplication settings)
MultiStore (if using provisioning and cloning features and working with vFiler units)
FlexClone
The FlexClone license is required in the following situations:
You are performing backup and restore operations in NFS environments and your system is
running a version of Data ONTAP prior to 8.1.
22 | VSC 6.2.1 for VMware vSphere Installation and Administration Guide
You do not need a FlexClone license if you are performing backup and restore operations in NFS
environments with one of the following versions of Data ONTAP software:
Unless your company's security policies require more restrictive permissions, it is a good practice to
assign permissions on the root object (also referred to as the root folder). Then, if required, you can
restrict those entities that you do not want to have permissions.
All VSC users must have the View privilege correctly assigned
The VSC-specific View privilege is read-only and enables users to view the menus, tabs, and other
elements of the VSC interface. This privilege must be included in all VSC roles, or the user will not
be to view the VSC interface.
When you are working in an environment that has multiple VSC-vCenter Server instances and you
are not an administrator, you must have the View privilege across all the vCenter Servers in that
environment. Otherwise, the VMware vSphere Web Client will not load VSC.
The View privilege is used in the standard VSC Read-only role that is assigned to a user. If you want
to limit a user to read-only access to VSC, you can assign that user the VSC Read-only role.
It is a good practice to assign the permission containing the View privilege to the root object.
Confirm that the storage systems and their credentials are available
VSC provides centralized management for storage discovery and credentials. All VSC features use
the credentials that are entered during the initial setup and discovery process.
If you are upgrading from VSC 4.1 or earlier, you should check the storage systems to ensure that
there are no issues with credentials, especially in regard to backup and recovery operations, after you
install the backup and restore features.
Ensure the times are synchronized when installing VSC on a different server
If you are not installing VSC on the vCenter Server, you must ensure that the times on the VSC
installation server and the vCenter Server are synchronized.
The vCenter Server will not accept the certificate of the VSC installation server when the times differ
on the servers.
For information about synchronizing the server times, see your operating system documentation.
VSC for VMware vSphere installation overview | 23
Hardware requirements are greater if you are running VSC on the same machine as the vCenter
Server. The VMware documentation contains the current list of hardware requirements.
You should be aware of the following requirements before you install the VSC software:
Note: IPv6 is not supported on VSC. If the server on which you are installing VSC has IPv6
enabled, you should disable IPv6 before installing VSC. IPv6 should not be reenabled after VSC is
installed.
When you use SnapCenter with VSC, you must have the following VSC environment:
Note: For details about installing SnapCenter and its requirements, see the SnapCenter
documentation.
In addition, there are some considerations that you must keep in mind when you are using
SnapCenter with VSC:
When you use the VSC dialog box to register VSC with SnapCenter, you should provide a user
name and password that are associated with SnapCenter administrator credentials.
If you are using VSC to manage SVMs and you are a VSC administrator, you should check the
option in this dialog box to overwrite the SnapCenter SVM credentials with VSC SVM
credentials. You need to do this to make sure that the credentials for the SVMs have the correct
privileges to perform VSC tasks. If you are not using VSC to manage the SVMs, this is not a
problem.
SnapCenter only allows direct connections to SVMs; however, VSC requires connections to
cluster management LIFs or you will not be able to access all of the VSC features.
You can accommodate these requirements by setting up your storage systems in the following
manner:
In the VSC GUI, add the cluster LIFs for the storage systems.
Note: Differences between direct connections to SVMs and to cluster management LIFs on
page 82 provides details about which VSC features are not available when you use direct
connections to SVMs.
MetroCluster support
VSC supports MetroCluster configurations for clustered Data ONTAP and Data ONTAP operating in
7-Mode. For more information about MetroCluster configurations, see MetroCluster for clustered
Data ONTAP and VSC for VMware vSphere on page 55.
VSC for VMware vSphere installation overview | 25
You must have administrator privileges on the system where you are installing VSC.
Your system must meet the VSC requirements listed in the Interoperability Matrix, which is
available online at mysupport.netapp.com/matrix.
If you plan to register VSC with SnapCenter, you must have a host where you install VSC and a
different host where you install SnapCenter.
Steps
2. Double-click the installer icon and then click Run to start the installation wizard.
5. At the web page that appears after the installation completes, register VSC with the vCenter
Server.
You must provide the vCenter Server host name or IP address and the administrative credentials.
Note: To register VSC with the vCenter Server, you must have administrator privileges for
your Windows login.
26 | VSC 6.2.1 for VMware vSphere Installation and Administration Guide
You must have administrator privileges on the system where you are installing VSC.
Your system must meet the VSC requirements that are listed in the Interoperability Matrix.
If you plan to register VSC with SnapCenter, you must have a host where you install VSC and a
different host where you install SnapCenter.
Steps
This command installs all of the VSC features, including the VSC backup and restore features.
Example
The following example shows a command for a 64-bit host machine:
VSC-6.2.1-win64.exe /s /v"/qn /Li install.log ADDLOCAL=ALL INSTALLDIR=
\"C:\Program Files\NetApp\Virtual Storage Console\""
3. On the web page that appears when the installation finishes, register VSC with the vCenter
Server.
You must provide the vCenter Server host name or IP address and the administrative credentials.
Note: To register VSC with the vCenter Server, you must have administrator privileges for
your Windows login.
For complete information about the VSC requirements, see the Interoperability Matrix.
NetApp Interoperability Matrix Tool
Steps
1. In the vCSA window, log in to the vCenter Server as a root user by using a Secure Shell (SSH).
Steps
1. Use administrator credentials to log in to the Microsoft Windows vCenter Server where the
vCenter Web Client Service is installed.
2. From the Windows services snap-in, stop the VMware vSphere Web Client Service.
If you have any of that software installed, you must uninstall it before you can install the current
version of VSC. If the VSC installer finds RCU or SMVI on the server, it prompts you to uninstall
the software, and then aborts.
You must be logged in with administrator privileges to the machine where you installing VSC.
If you plan to register VSC with SnapCenter, you should have installed VSC and SnapCenter on
different hosts.
Important: If you are using VASA Provider for clustered Data ONTAP, you must have unregistered
it from VSC before you install the upgrade.
Steps
2. Double-click the installer icon, and then click Run to start the installation wizard.
7. At the web page that appears when the installation is complete, register VSC with the vCenter
Server.
You must provide the vCenter Server host name or IP address and the administrative credentials.
Note: To register VSC with the vCenter Server, you must have administrator privileges for
your Windows login.
You must have administrator privileges on the system where you are installing VSC.
Your system must meet the VSC requirements listed in the Interoperability Matrix.
If you plan to register VSC with SnapCenter, you must have a host where you install VSC and a
different host where you install SnapCenter.
Steps
3. (VSC 4.x system) Copy the following VSC 4.x directories and files, which are all relative to the
VSC installation directory:
Note: To make moving these files to your VSC 6.2.1 installation easier, you can create a .zip
file to contain them.
etc\keystore.properties
etc\nvpf.keystore
VSC for VMware vSphere installation overview | 31
etc\nvpf.override
etc\network-interface.properties
etc\caster\casterprefs.xml
etc\caster\derby\
etc\caster\kaminosdkprefs.xml
etc\kamino\baselines.ser
etc\kamino\connectionBrokers.ser
etc\kamino\vcenters.ser
etc\kamino\kaminoprefs.xml
etc\vsc\vsc.xml
etc\vsc\vscPreferences.xml
log\
smvi\server\etc\cred
smvi\server\etc\keystore
smvi\server\etc\smvi.keystore
smvi\server\repository\
5. (VSC 6.2.1 system) Register VSC with the vCenter Server when the registration web page opens.
For details about how to register VSC or what to do if the registration web page does not open,
see the Registering VSC for VMware vSphere with vCenter Server section.
7. (VSC 6.2.1 system) Place the VSC 4.x files into your VSC 6.2.1 installation.
If you created a .zip file to contain these directories and files, you must paste it into the VSC
6.2.1 installation directory and then unzip it.
You should paste these files relative to the VSC 6.2.1 installation directory.
10. (VSC 6.2.1 system) Verify that the expected data (storage systems, backup jobs, and so on)
appears in VSC after you complete the upgrade from a 32-bit system to VSC 6.2.1.
11. (VSC 4.x system) When your VSC 6.2.1 installation is running and you have verified that it has
the correct data, uninstall the VSC 4.x program by using one of the following methods:
Go to the Windows Add or Remove Programs list and remove VSC 4.x.
Steps
1. On the Windows server where you installed the VSC for VMware vSphere software, select
Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs (Windows Server 2003) or Control Panel >
Programs and Features (Windows Server 2008).
2. Select Virtual Storage Console for VMware vSphere and click Remove to immediately remove
the program or click Change to start the installation wizard.
3. If you select Change, then click Yes to confirm that you want to remove the program.
4. In the installation wizard, select the Remove option and click Next.
Step
Example
The following is an example of the command you might use if you were uninstalling VSC 6.2
from a 64-bit host machine:
To work with VVOLS, you must select the VASA Provider for clustered Data ONTAP option in
the VMware vSphere Web Client Actions menu, not the VSC GUI.
To register VASA Provider, manage storage capability profiles, map them to datastores, and set
threshold alarms, you must select the VASA Provider for clustered Data ONTAP section of the
VSC GUI.
34 | VSC 6.2.1 for VMware vSphere Installation and Administration Guide
To adjust settings for VASA Provider and perform maintenance tasks, you must use the VASA
Provider maintenance menus, which are accessible from the console of the virtual appliance.
The Main Menu provides several options for configuring VASA Provider and performing
diagnostic operations.
If you need to create a support bundle, you should use the Vendor Provider Control Panel screen
located at https://vm_ip:9083. You can use the maintenance menu to create a support bundle, but
the Vendor Provider Control Panel enables you to create a more complete bundle.
35
Set up connection brokers to work with the provisioning and cloning operations.
Register VASA Provider and create storage capability profiles and threshold alarms.
Work with the preferences file to enable datastore mounting across different subnets.
Steps
1. From the VMware vSphere Web Client Home page, click vCenter > Hosts.
36 | VSC 6.2.1 for VMware vSphere Installation and Administration Guide
2. Right-click a host, and then select Actions > NetApp VSC > Set Recommended Values.
3. In the Recommended Settings pop-up box, select the values that work best with your system.
The standard, recommended values are set by default.
4. Click OK.
NFS settings
Net.TcpipHeapSize
If you are using vSphere 5.0 or later, set to 32.
For all other NFS configurations, set to 30.
Configuring your VSC for VMware vSphere environment | 37
Net.TcpipHeapMax
If you are using vSphere 5.5 or later, set to 512.
If you are using vSphere 5.0 up to 5.5, set to 128.
For all other NFS configurations, set to 120.
NFS.MaxVolumes
If you are using vSphere 5.0 or later, set to 256.
For all other NFS configurations, set to 64.
NFS41.MaxVolumes
If you are using vSphere 6.0 or later, set to 256.
NFS.MaxQueueDepth
If you are using vSphere 5.0 or later, set to 64.
NFS.HeartbeatMaxFailures
Set to 10 for all NFS configurations.
NFS.HeartbeatFrequency
Set to 12 for all NFS configurations.
NFS.HeartbeatTimeout
Set to 5 for all NFS configurations.
FC/FCoE settings
Path selection policy
Set to RR (round robin) for ESX 4.0 or 4.1 and ESXi 5.x, FC paths with ALUA enabled.
Set to FIXED for all other configurations.
Setting this value to RR helps provide load balancing across all active/optimized paths.
The value FIXED is for older, non-ALUA configurations and helps prevent proxy I/O. In
other words, it helps keep I/O from going to the other node of a high availability pair (HA)
in an environment that has Data ONTAP operating in 7-mode.
Disk.QFullSampleSize
Set to 32 for all configurations. This setting is available with ESXi 5.x and ESX 4.x.
Setting this value helps prevent I/O errors.
Note: vSphere 5.1 handles Task Set Full (QFull) conditions differently from vSphere
4.x and 5.0. For more information on QFull settings in vSphere 5.1, see knowledgebase
article 1013944, which is online at kb.netapp.com/support/index?
page=content&id=1013944.
Disk.QFullThreshold
Set to 8 for all configurations. This setting is available with ESXi 5.0 and ESX 4.x.
Setting this value helps prevent I/O errors.
Note: vSphere 5.1 handles Task Set Full (QFull) conditions differently from vSphere
4.x and 5.0. For more information on QFull settings in vSphere 5.1, see knowledgebase
article 1013944, which is online at kb.netapp.com/support/index?
page=content&id=1013944.
Emulex FC HBA timeouts
For ESX 4.0 or 4.1 or ESXi 5.x, use the default value.
QLogic FC HBA timeouts
For ESX 4.0 or 4.1 or ESXi 5.x, use the default value.
38 | VSC 6.2.1 for VMware vSphere Installation and Administration Guide
iSCSI settings
Path selection policy
Set to RR (round robin) for all iSCSI paths.
Setting this value to RR helps provide load balancing across all active/optimized paths.
Disk.QFullSampleSize
Set to 32 for all configurations. This setting is available with ESX 4.x and ESXi 5.x.
Setting this value helps prevent I/O errors.
Note: vSphere 5.1 handles Task Set Full (QFull) conditions differently from vSphere
4.x and 5.0. For more information on QFull settings in vSphere 5.1, see knowledgebase
article 1013944, which is online at kb.netapp.com/support/index?
page=content&id=1013944.
Disk.QFullThreshold
Set to 8 for all configurations. This setting is available with ESX 4.x and ESXi 5.x.
Setting this value helps prevent I/O errors.
Note: vSphere 5.1 handles Task Set Full (QFull) conditions differently from vSphere
4.x and 5.0. For more information on QFull settings in vSphere 5.1, see knowledgebase
article 1013944, which is online at kb.netapp.com/support/index?
page=content&id=1013944.
QLogic iSCSI HBA IP_ARP_Redirect
Set to ON for all configurations.
QLogic iSCSI HBA timeouts
ql4xportdownretrycount (qla4022 driver), ka_timeout
(qla4xxx driver), and KeepAliveTO timeout settings are set to 14 for iSCSI SAN booted
ESX hosts, and set to 60 for non-SAN-boot configurations.
A 60-second script
A 190-second script
Configuring your VSC for VMware vSphere environment | 39
In most cases, the recommended value is 60 seconds. Knowledge base article 3013622, which is
online at kb.netapp.com/support/index?page=content&id=3013622, contains information you can use
when deciding which timeout value to use.
You can mount and run the script from the vSphere client. The Tools panel provides URLs for the
scripts.
To get the script containing the timeout values you want for your operating system, you must copy
the correct URL from the Guest OS Tools page and mount it as a virtual CD-ROM in the virtual
machine using the vSphere client. Make sure you install the script from a copy of Virtual Storage
Console for VMware vSphere that is registered to the vCenter Server that manages the virtual
machine. After the script has been installed, you can run it from the console of the virtual machine.
Steps
1. In the vSphere Client, select the desired virtual machine and power it off.
3. Select CD/DVD Drive in the New device drop-down box and click Add.
The CD-ROM must already exist in the virtual machine, or it must have been added.
The script must be installed from the copy of the VSC registered to the vCenter Server that
manages the virtual machine.
Steps
1. From the Virtual Storage Console Home page, expand Tools and click Guest OS Tools:
40 | VSC 6.2.1 for VMware vSphere Installation and Administration Guide
2. Under Guest OS Tools, press Ctrl-C to copy the link to the ISO image for your guest operating
system version to the clipboard.
VSC provides both 60-second timeout scripts and 190-second timeout scripts for Linux,
Windows, and Solaris. Select the script for your operating system that provides the timeout value
you want to use.
3. Return to the vSphere Web Client Home page and select vCenter.
4. Select the desired virtual machine and click the Manage > VM Hardware.
6. Paste the link you copied into the File Name field and then click Open.
Be sure that the link you are using is from the copy of the VSC running on the vCenter Server
that manages the virtual machine.
190-second timeout. You should always run the script each time you upgrade to a new version of
Linux.
Steps
1. Open the console of the Linux virtual machine and log in to an account with root privileges.
Result
For RHEL4 or SLES9, a message similar to the following is displayed:
Starting udev: [ OK ]
Steps
1. Open the console of the Solaris virtual machine and log in to an account with root privileges.
Result
For Solaris 10, a message similar to the following is displayed:
Steps
1. Open the console of the Windows virtual machine and log in to an account with Administrator
privileges.
2. If the script does not automatically start, open the CD drive and run
windows_gos_timeout.reg.
Steps
1. If the registration web page does not open automatically, type the following URL in a web
browser:
https://localhost:8143/Register.html
localhost must be the computer on which you installed VSC. If you are not performing this
step from the computer on which you installed VSC, you must replace localhost with the host
name or IP address of that computer.
2. If a security certificate warning appears, choose the option to ignore it or to continue to the web
site.
The vSphere Plugin Registration web page appears.
3. In the Plugin service information section, select the IP address that the vCenter Server uses to
access VSC.
This IP address must be accessible from the vCenter Server. If you installed VSC on the vCenter
Server computer, this might be the same address as the one you use to access the vCenter Server.
4. Enter the vCenter Server host name or IP address and the administrative credentials to register the
vCenter Server with this instance of VSC.
6. If you are registering additional vCenter Servers, repeat steps 3, 4, and 5 to register each instance
of VSC with a vCenter Server.
7. Close the registration page after you complete the registration process, because the web page used
to register with the vCenter Server is not automatically refreshed.
You are running clustered Data ONTAP 8.2.2 or later, and you do not register VSC with
SnapCenter.
Steps
1. From the Virtual Storage Console Home page, select Configuration > Configure SnapCenter
Server.
2. In the Configure SnapCenter Server dialog box, enter the credentials that VSC must use to log
in to the SnapCenter Server.
Field Action
Server Enter the host name or IP address of the SnapCenter Server.
Port Enter the port number that VSC and SnapCenter use to
communicate on.
UserName Enter the user name that VSC should use to access the SnapCenter
Server.
This user name should have SnapCenter Server administrative
privileges.
Password Enter the password that VSC should use to access the SnapCenter
Server.
3. If you are a VSC administrator and plan to manage Storage Virtual Machines (SVMs) from
within VSC instead of from within SnapCenter, select the Push storage virtual machine
credentials to SnapCenter Server check box.
This check box tells VSC to push the SVMs registered with VSC into SnapCenter. If there are
SVMs registered with both VSC and SnapCenter, checking this box causes VSC to overwrite any
Configuring your VSC for VMware vSphere environment | 45
SnapCenter Data ONTAP credentials and replace them with the VSC Data ONTAP SVM
credentials. The VSC credentials contain the correct privileges for performing VSC tasks. See
SVM RBAC role needed when using VSC with SnapCenter on page 45.
Note: The credentials are associated with the user name and password that you use when you
register VSC with SnapCenter.
If you are not using VSC to work with the SVMs, you do not need to select this check box.
SVM RBAC role required when using VSC for VMware with SnapCenter
If you are a Virtual Storage Console for VMware vSphere administrator and plan to manage Storage
Virtual Machines (SVMs) from within VSC, you must push the VSC SVM credentials to SnapCenter
when you register VSC with SnapCenter. The VSC RBAC role for the SVMs provides the privileges
necessary for the VSC to correctly complete its tasks.
SnapCenter uses the Data ONTAP vsadmin role for SVMs. This role does not contain all the
privileges that VSC tasks require.
You can use the RBAC User Creator for Data ONTAP (RUC) tool to set up a vscadmin role for VSC
that you can assign to the SVMs when you add them to VSC.
NetApp Community Document: RBAC User Creator for Data ONTAP
When you register VSC with SnapCenter, you can select the option to push these RBAC credentials
to SnapCenter, which adds the credentials to the SnapCenter Server. If the SnapCenter Server uses
the same role name as VSC, then VSC overwrites the SnapCenter Server credentials. However, you
can use different role names in VSC and in SnapCenter. For example, you could set up a vscadmin
role for VSC by using the RUC tool. Each time you add an SVM to VSC, you can set its credentials
to the vscadmin role. In SnapCenter, you could add the same SVM, but assign it the Data ONTAP
vsadmin role. That way, VSC would use the vscadmin role when it worked with the SVM, and
SnapCenter would use the vsadmin role.
Registering VASA Provider for ONTAP with VSC for VMware vSphere
After you have installed VASA Provider for ONTAP, you must register it with Virtual Storage
Console for VMware vSphere.
You must have the password for the vpserver account for VASA Provider.
Steps
1. From the Virtual Storage Console Home page, click Configuration > Register/Unregister
VASA Vendor Provider.
46 | VSC 6.2.1 for VMware vSphere Installation and Administration Guide
2. In the Register VASA Vendor Provider dialog box, enter the following information:
The IP address or the name of the host where you installed VASA Provider
3. Click Register All to register VASA Provider with VSC and all the vCenter Servers that are listed
in the dialog box.
Unlike VSC, VASA Provider has a 1:All relationship with vCenter Servers. You cannot configure
VASA Provider to register with only one vCenter Server in a multiple vCenter Server
environment.
A message is displayed stating that VASA Provider was successfully registered.
Steps
For <HOST>, you should enter the host name or the fully qualified domain name of the system
running VSC.
Example
The following example executes the command from the installation directory and uses a host
called ESXiTester:
C:\Program Files\ NetApp\Virtual Storage Console>bin\vsc ssl setup -cn
ESXiTester
You will also be prompted to enter a password for the private key (this can be any string you
choose).
The following files are generated:
This file contains the keystore file path, the keystore, and the key passwords. The
administrator should secure this file and specify http.ssl.keystore.properties in etc
\nvpf.override if the keystore properties file needs to be moved.
6. If you are using the VSC provisioning and cloning or optimization and migration features,
perform the following steps:
If the installation directory is on a network shared directory, move the file to local storage.
Move the file to storage that is accessible only to the SYSTEM user, which prevents
unauthorized users from viewing or modifying the file.
10. You can review and accept the SSL certificate after the vSphere Client receives the certificate by
clicking the NetApp icon in the vSphere Client.
11. Import the SSL certificate into the Trusted Root Certification Authorities store to prevent SSL
security warnings from appearing every time you launch the vSphere client.
For details, see the documentation for your Windows operating system.
Replacing an SSL certificate for VSC for VMware vSphere with CA-signed
certificates
Virtual Storage Console (VSC) supports replacing self-signed SSL certificates for ports 8143 and
8043 with CA-signed certificates. If you replace or update an SSL certificate for VSC, by default the
SSL certificate is updated for both the ports.
Steps
4. After the CA returns the signed certificate and the CA certificate, place them in the C:\program
files\netapp\virtual storage console\etc\ directory.
Linked mode is installed automatically during the vCenter Server installation. It uses Microsoft
Active Directory Application Mode (ADAM) to store and synchronize data across multiple vCenter
Server systems.
Using the vSphere Web Client to perform VSC tasks across multiple vCenter Servers requires the
following:
Each vCenter Server in the VMware inventory must have a single VSC server registered with it in
a unique 1:1 pairing.
For example, you can have VSC server A registered to vCenter Server A, VSC server B registered
to vCenter Server B, VSC server C registered to vCenter Server C, and so on.
You cannot have VSC server A registered to both vCenter Server A and vCenter Server B.
Also, if the VMware inventory includes one vCenter Server that does not have a VSC server
registered to it, you will not be able to see any instances of VSC, even though the VMware
inventory has one or more vCenter Servers that are registered with VSC.
You must have the VSC-specific View privilege for each vCenter Server that is registered to the
single sign-on (SSO).
You must also have the correct RBAC permissions.
When you are performing a task that requires you to specify a vCenter Server, the vCenter Server
drop-down box displays the available vCenter Servers in alphanumeric order. The default vCenter
Server is always the first server in the drop-down list.
If the location of the storage is known (for example, when you use the Provisioning wizard and the
datastore is on a host managed by a specific vCenter Server), the vCenter Server list is displayed as a
read-only option. This only happens when you use the right-click option to select an item in the
vSphere Web Client.
VSC warns you when you attempt to select an object that it does not manage.
You can filter storage systems based on a specific vCenter Server from the VSC summary page. A
summary page appears for every VSC instance registered with a vCenter Server. You can manage
storage systems associated with a specific VSC instance and vCenter Server, but you should keep the
registration information for each storage system separate if you are running multiple instances of
VSC.
Configuring your VSC for VMware vSphere environment | 51
For VMware View Server, clone data is imported into View Server at the end of the clone
operation.
For Citrix XenDesktop, a .csv file is created in the directory c:\program files\netapp
\virtual storage console\etc\kamino\exports. See Cloning virtual machines on page
88 for details.
To work with connection brokers in Virtual Storage Console for VMware vSphere, you must
have .Net 3.5 available on the system where you have VSC installed. For some versions of Windows,
such as Windows 2008, .Net 3.5 is included as part of the installation. For other versions, such as
Windows 2003, it is not part of the base install, so you must manually install it.
You must have .Net 3.5 available on the system where you have VSC installed.
For some versions of Windows, such as Windows 2008, .Net 3.5 is included as part of the
installation. For other versions, such as Windows 2003, it is not part of the base install, so you
must manually install it.
Steps
1. From the Virtual Storage Console Home page, select Configuration > Connection brokers.
52 | VSC 6.2.1 for VMware vSphere Installation and Administration Guide
a. For Connection Broker Version, select the connection broker name and version from the
drop-down list.
c. For Connection name (XenDesktop 5.0 only), enter the name given the Citrix XenDesktop
5.0 connection.
d. For Hostname or IP Address (VMware View Server only), enter the connection broker host
name or IP address.
e. For Username (VMware View Server only), enter the domain user name.
f. For Password (VMware View Server only), enter the domain password.
Configuring your VSC for VMware vSphere environment | 53
Steps
1. From the Virtual Storage Console Home page, select Configuration > Connection brokers.
Steps
1. From the Virtual Storage Console Home page, click Configuration > Backup and Recovery
Configuration.
2. In the Backup and Recovery Configuration dialog box, select the Enable AutoSupport check
box to enable AutoSupport messages.
Related tasks
Collecting the VSC for VMware vSphere log files on page 129
54 | VSC 6.2.1 for VMware vSphere Installation and Administration Guide
Selected the vCenter Server that you want to use for this task.
In VSC environments using SnapCenter and using role-based access control (RBAC), confirmed
that the RBAC users have the Data ONTAP event generate-autosupport-log permission.
Steps
1. From the Virtual Storage Console Home page, click Configuration > Backup and Recovery
Configuration.
2. In the Backup and Recovery Configuration dialog box, specify the email address and SMTP
server from which the alert notifications are sent, as well as the email server to which the alert
notifications are to be sent.
3. Optional: Click Send Test Email to verify that the outgoing email server to which the alert
notifications are to be sent is working correctly.
Configuring your VSC for VMware vSphere environment | 55
VSC_install_dir\etc\caster\kaminosdkprefs.xml
VSC_install_dir\etc\vsc\vscPreferences.xml
An example of when you might need to modify the preferences files is if you use iSCSI or NFS and
the subnet is different between your ESX hosts and your storage system. In that situation, if you do
not modify settings in the preferences files, provisioning a datastore fails because VSC cannot mount
the datastore.
Steps
VSC_install_dir\etc\kamino\kaminosdkprefs.xml
The preferences files include example values for these entry keys.
Note: ALL does not mean all networks. It means that all matching networks between the host
and storage system can be used to mount datastores. Specifying subnet masks enables
mounting across the specified subnets only.
Steps
value_in_seconds is the amount of time, specified in seconds, that you want VSC to wait
before rechecking the optimization of the NFS paths.
2. Verify that the optimization checks are occurring at the new interval by checking the entries in the
log/vsc.log log file.
The log file contains statements similar to the following that enable you to determine how often
the path checks are occurring:
VSC checks the vCenter Server RBAC permissions when a user clicks a vSphere object and initiates
an action. If a user has the correct vCenter Server RBAC permission to perform that task on that
vSphere object, VSC then checks the Data ONTAP credentials for the storage system. If those
credentials are also confirmed, then VSC allows the user to perform that task.
The following diagram provides an overview of the VSC validation workflow for RBAC privileges
(both vCenter and Data ONTAP):
58 | VSC 6.2.1 for VMware vSphere Installation and Administration Guide
vCenter
Server
Storage System
Related concepts
vCenter Server role-based access control features in VSC for VMware vSphere on page 58
Standard roles packaged with VSC for VMware vSphere on page 62
Data ONTAP role-based access control features in VSC for VMware vSphere on page 66
A vSphere object
The object is the target for the tasks.
A user or group
The user or group defines who can perform the task.
As the following diagram illustrates, you must have all three elements in order to have a permission.
Note: In this diagram, the gray boxes indicate components that exist in the vCenter Server, and the
white boxes indicate components that exist in the operating system where the vCenter Server is
running.
Privilege User
Privileges
Two kinds of privileges are associated with Virtual Storage Console for VMware vSphere:
VSC-specific privileges
These privileges are defined for specific VSC tasks. They are unique to VSC.
Note: For ease of reading, this document refers to the vCenter Server privileges as native
privileges, and the privileges that are defined for VSC as VSC-specific privileges. For detailed
information about VSC-specific privileges, see Virtual Storage Console for VMware vSphere
Advanced RBAC Configuration. For information about vCenter Server native privileges, see
VMware's vSphere Security guide. At the time this document was created, that guide was online at
the following site: NetApp follows the VMware recommendations for creating and using
permissions.
http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-60/topic/com.vmware.ICbase/PDF/vsphere-esxi-vcenter-
server-601-security-guide.pdf
VSC tasks require both VSC-specific privileges and vCenter Server native privileges. These
privileges constitute the role for the user. A permission can have multiple privileges.
Note: To simplify working with vCenter Server RBAC, VSC provides several standard roles that
contain all the VSC-specific and native privileges that are required to perform VSC tasks.
If you change the privileges within a permission, the user that is associated with that permission
should log out and then log back in to enable the updated permission.
60 | VSC 6.2.1 for VMware vSphere Installation and Administration Guide
vSphere objects
Permissions are associated with vSphere objects, such as the vCenter Server, ESXi hosts, virtual
machines, datastores, datacenters, and folders. You can assign permissions to any vSphere object.
Based on the permission that is assigned to a vSphere object, the vCenter Server determines who can
perform which tasks on that object.
Users and groups do not have roles assigned to them. They gain access to a role by being part of a
vCenter Server permission.
You can assign only one permission to a vCenter user or group. However, you can set up high-level
groups, and then assign a single user to multiple groups. Doing that allows the user to have all the
permissions that are provided by the different groups. In addition, using groups simplifies the
management of permissions by eliminating the need to set up the same permission multiple times for
individual users.
Assigning permissions
Where you assign a permission determines the VSC tasks that a user can perform.
Sometimes, to ensure that a task completes, you must assign the permission at a higher level, such as
the root object. This is the case when a task requires a privilege that does not apply to a specific
vSphere object (for example, tracking the task) or when a required privilege applies to a non-vSphere
object (for example, a storage system).
In these cases, you can set up a permission so that it is inherited by the child entities. You can also
assign other permissions to the child entities. The permission on a child entity always overrides the
permission inherited from the parent entity. This means that you can assign child entity permissions
as a way to restrict the scope of a permission that was assigned to a root object and inherited by the
child entity.
Tip: Unless your company's security policies require more restrictive permissions, it is a good
practice to assign permissions on the root object (also referred to as the root folder). Then, if you
need to, you can restrict those entities that you do not want to have the permission so that you have
more fine-grained security.
Authentication and user management with vCenter RBAC and Data ONTAP RBAC | 61
Modifying permissions
You can modify a permission at any time.
If you change the privileges within a permission, the user associated with that permission should log
out and then log back in to enable the updated permission.
If you plan to use a more restrictive implementation of RBAC, the following example illustrates how
assigning permissions can affect which tasks you can complete. This example uses two datacenters
(Datacenter A and Datacenter B) that are managed by a single vCenter Server. Users of one
datacenter are not allowed to perform tasks in the other datacenter.
For Datacenter A, you create the following vCenter Server permission:
The vCenter Server privileges, both VSC-specific and vCenter Server native, required to allow the
user to perform rapid cloning
A managed object within the vSphere inventory (Datacenter A), which has the "Propagate to
Child Objects" check box selected
Because the permissions for rapid cloning are assigned to Datacenter A, VSC displays an error
message if you attempt to clone a virtual machine from Datacenter B.
If you attempt to clone a virtual machine in Datacenter A, VSC allows you to complete the Rapid
Clone Wizard steps. However, when you click Apply, the Rapid Clone Wizard disappears without
completing the cloning task. The log file includes a message stating that you do not have permission
to create a task.
This clone task failed because the permission was applied to Datacenter A instead of the root object
(folder). The task required the native vCenter Server privilege "Create Task." Permissions containing
the "Create Task" privilege must always be applied at the root object level. During the cloning task,
Provisioning and Cloning confirmed that "Pat" had permission to work with a virtual machine in
Datacenter A. But, as the clone task continued, Provisioning and Cloning asked the vCenter Server to
create a task to track its progress. The vCenter Server rejected this request because user "Pat" did not
have permission to create tasks on the root object. This caused the task to fail.
If you had assigned the permission at the root object, the privileges would have propagated down to
the child vSphere objects, in this case Datacenter A and Datacenter B. You could have prevented
"Pat" from working with a virtual machine in Datastore B by applying a permission restricting "Pat"
from accessing Datastore B.
62 | VSC 6.2.1 for VMware vSphere Installation and Administration Guide
For detailed information on working with vCenter Server permissions, see VMware's vSphere
Security guide. At the time this document was created, that guide was online at http://
pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-60/topic/com.vmware.ICbase/PDF/vsphere-esxi-vcenter-server-601-
security-guide.pdf. NetApp follows the VMware recommendations for creating and using
permissions.
You can see the VSC standard roles when you click Roles from the VMware vSphere Web Client
Home page.
Authentication and user management with vCenter RBAC and Data ONTAP RBAC | 63
The roles VSC provides allow you to perform the following tasks:
Role Description
VSC Provides all native vCenter Server and VSC-specific privileges necessary to
Administrator perform all VSC tasks.
VSC Read-only Provides read-only access to all of VSC.
These users cannot perform any VSC actions that are access controlled.
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Role Description
VSC Provision Provides all native vCenter Server and VSC-specific privileges necessary to
provision storage.
The user can perform the following tasks:
Destroy datastores
Reclaim space
Distribute templates
VSC Clone Provides all native vCenter Server and VSC-specific privileges necessary to
clone storage and view information about storage capability profiles.
The user cannot perform the following tasks:
Provision storage
Reclaim space
Distribute templates
VSC Scan/ Provides all native vCenter Server and VSC-specific privileges necessary to
Migrate scan databases and migrate virtual machines and view information about
storage capability profiles.
With this role, the user can perform all tasks involving optimizing and
migrating storage.
The user also has access to the configure privilege.
VSC Backup Provides all native vCenter Server and VSC-specific privileges necessary to
back up vSphere objects (virtual machines and datastores) and view
information about storage capability profiles.
The user also has access to the configure privilege.
The user cannot perform the following task:
Restore storage
VSC Restore Provides all native vCenter Server and VSC-specific privileges necessary to
restore vSphere objects that have been backed up and view information about
storage capability profiles.
The user also has access to the configure privilege.
The user cannot perform the following task:
Details about the privileges needed for these roles are included in Virtual Storage Console for
VMware vSphere Advanced RBAC Configuration Guide.
Authentication and user management with vCenter RBAC and Data ONTAP RBAC | 65
Example of how the View privilege affects tasks in VSC for VMware
vSphere
The View privilege allows you to see the Virtual Storage Console for VMware vSphere GUI. Where
you assign a permission containing the View privilege determines which parts of the GUI are visible.
Note: Depending on your company's security requirements, you might either log in as
administrator and not use RBAC, or you might set permissions on the root object (folder). Setting
permissions on the root object normally allows all the child objects to inherit those permissions,
unless you place a restriction on a child object.
If you plan to implement RBAC in a more restrictive way, the following example illustrates how
assigning a permission containing the View privilege can affect which parts of the GUI you can
access. In this example, the following vCenter Server permission is assigned to Datacenter A:
A managed object within the vSphere inventory (Datacenter A), which has the "Propagate to
Child Objects" check box selected
If you log in to VSC as user "Pat", the NetApp icon appears. However, if you click the icon, VSC
displays an error message. This is because "Pat" only has View permission on Datacenter A. To see
the VSC menus and toolbars, you must navigate to Datacenter A and right-click it.
To access the main VSC GUI and avoid an error message when you click on the icon, you must
assign any permission containing the View privilege to the root object.
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Using Data ONTAP RBAC with the VSC-specific privileges provides a storage-oriented layer of
security that the storage administrator can manage. As a result, you have more fine-grained access
control than either Data ONTAP or vCenter Server supports alone. For example, with vCenter Server
RBAC, you can allow vCenterUserB, but not vCenterUserA, to provision a datastore on NetApp
storage. However, if the storage system credentials for a specific storage system do not support
creating storage, then neither vCenterUserB nor vCenterUserA can provision a datastore on that
storage system.
When you initiate a VSC task, VSC first confirms that you have the correct vCenter Server
permission for that task. If the vCenter Server permission is not sufficient to allow you to perform the
task, VSC does not need to check the Data ONTAP privileges for that storage system because you did
not pass the initial, vCenter Server security check. As a result, you cannot access the storage system.
If the vCenter Server permission is sufficient, VSC then checks the Data ONTAP RBAC privileges
(your Data ONTAP role) associated with the storage system's credentials (the user name and
password) to determine whether you have sufficient privileges to perform the storage operations
required by that VSC task on that storage system. If you have the correct Data ONTAP privileges,
you can access the storage system and perform the VSC task. The Data ONTAP roles determine the
VSC tasks you can perform on the storage system.
Each storage system has one set of Data ONTAP privileges associated with it.
Using both Data ONTAP RBAC and vCenter Server RBAC provides the following benefits:
Security
The administrator can control which users can perform which tasks on both a fine-grained
vCenter Server object level and a storage system level.
Audit information
In many cases, VSC provides an audit trail on the storage system that lets you track events back
to the vCenter user who performed the storage modifications.
Authentication and user management with vCenter RBAC and Data ONTAP RBAC | 67
Usability
You can maintain controller credentials in one place.
Recommended Data ONTAP roles when using VSC for VMware vSphere
There are several recommended Data ONTAP roles that you can set up for working with Virtual
Storage Console for VMware vSphere and role-based access control (RBAC). These roles contain the
Data ONTAP privileges required to perform the necessary storage operations executed by the VSC
tasks.
There are several ways to create Data ONTAP roles:
RBAC User Creator for Data ONTAP
NetApp Community Document: RBAC User Creator for Data ONTAP
OnCommand System Manager, which can be downloaded for either Windows or Linux platforms
The CLI (command-line interface), using the security login set of commands
The System Administrator's Guide for Clustered Data ONTAP Administrators contains
information about using this command.
Each role has a user name/password pair associated with it. These are the role's credentials. If you do
not log in using these credentials, you cannot access the storage operations associated with the role.
As a security measure, the VSC-specific Data ONTAP roles are ordered hierarchically. This means
that the first role is the most restrictive role and has only the privileges associated with the most basic
set of VSC storage operations. The next role includes both its own privileges and all of the privileges
associated with the previous role. Each additional role is less restrictive with regard to the supported
storage operations.
The following are some of the recommended Data ONTAP RBAC roles when using VSC. After you
create these roles, you can assign them to users who need to perform tasks related to storage, such as
provisioning and cloning storage and optimizing and migrating virtual machines.
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1. Discovery
The Discovery role enables you to add storage systems.
2. Create Clones
This role enables you to clone virtual machines. It also includes all of the privileges associated
with the Discovery roles.
3. Create Storage
This role enables you to create storage. It also includes all of the privileges associated with the
previous two roles.
4. Modify Storage
This role enables you to modify storage. It also includes all of the privileges associated with the
previous three roles.
5. Destroy Storage
This role enables you to destroy storage. It also includes all of the privileges associated with all of
the above roles.
If you use VSC only to perform backups, then the following Data ONTAP roles are recommended:
1. Discovery
The Discovery role enables you to add storage systems.
2. Backup-Recover
This role enables you to back up information on storage systems that you can recover later. It also
includes all of the privileges associated with the Discovery role.
If you are using VASA Provider for clustered Data ONTAP, you should also set up a PBM (policy-
based management) role. That role will allow you to manage storage using storage policies. This role
requires that you also set up the Discovery role.
Each Data ONTAP role that you create can have one user name associated with it. You must log in to
the storage system using the appropriate user name/password pair if you want to perform those role-
based tasks on the storage system.
To create new users, you must log in as an administrator on storage systems running clustered Data
ONTAP or root on storage systems running Data ONTAP operating in 7-Mode.
Details about the privileges needed for these roles are included in Virtual Storage Console for
VMware vSphere Advanced RBAC Configuration Guide.
Create a user name and password login (the storage system credentials) in Data ONTAP for each
role.
You need these storage system credentials to configure the storage systems for VSC. You do this
by entering the credentials in VSC. Each time you log in to a storage system using these
Authentication and user management with vCenter RBAC and Data ONTAP RBAC | 69
credentials, you are presented with the set of VSC functions that you set up in Data ONTAP when
you created the credentials.
VSC performs a preliminary privilege validation for Data ONTAP RBAC when you log in. VSC does
not perform the upfront validation if the storage system is directly connected to a Storage Virtual
Machine (SVM, formerly known as Vserver) or a vFiler unit. Instead, VSC checks and enforces the
privileges later in the task workflow.
You can use the administrator or root login to access all the VSC tasks; however, it is a good practice
to use the RBAC feature provided by Data ONTAP to create one or more custom accounts with
limited access privileges.
70
Unless you log in as administrator, you must have the appropriate RBAC privileges correctly
assigned to complete tasks.
VSC must not be performing another operation on the target virtual machine or datastore that can
have a negative impact on the currently executing operation.
If VSC is performing a task on the target virtual machine or datastore, other tasks are temporarily
unavailable.
(NFS only) Before performing provisioning or cloning operations, you should have enabled the
NFS Plug-in for VMware VAAI.
While not required, installing the plug-in is a best practice because it reduces load from the host
and places it on the storage system, which increases cloning efficiency.
Related concepts
Authentication and user management with vCenter RBAC and Data ONTAP RBAC on page 57
Protection of system resources using lock management on page 15
How VSC for VMware features work with optional plug-ins, virtual appliances on page 12
NetApp NFS Plug-in for VAAI installation on page 33
71
Clicking the icon in the menu bar on that page that is associated with the task you want to
perform.
You can access data, such as datastores or virtual machines, either by using the navigation panel on
the left side of the screen or by clicking an icon. For example, if you want to clone virtual machines,
you can either click the VMs and Templates icon on the vSphere Web Client Home page or you can
select vCenter > VMs and Templates. Both actions take you to the same place.
Many VSC pages provide a filter option. You can use the drop-down list in this option to organize the
display to show only the columns with which you want to work. You can also use a text string to
filter information. VSC performs a search based on the string and displays the results in a new
window. For example, if you enter aa in the filter box and there is a datastore named "AA_tester,"
then VSC displays information on that datastore. To return to your previous window, which lists all
the datastores, clear the information in the filter box and press Enter.
If you are new to the vSphere Web Client, here are some tips for navigating through it:
You can use the back arrow in the navigation pane to return to your previous location.
The Recent Tasks pane on the right side of the screen lets you monitor the progress of a task that
is under way.
The Work In Progress pane shows you tasks that have been started and paused. To resume a
paused task, click its name.
Set up default credentials for VSC to use when it adds storage systems
Use VSC's interface to get a quick view of the storage system details
When you add a storage system to VSC, you must supply an IP address for the storage system and
the user name and password pair that is associated with that system. You can either set up default
credentials that VSC will use during its storage system discovery process, or you can manually enter
credentials when the storage system is discovered.
Note: If you have vFiler units on storage systems running Data ONTAP 8.x software, you must set
the httpd.admin.enable option for the vFiler unit to enable discovery.
If your environment includes multiple vCenter Servers, when you add a storage system to VSC from
the Storage Systems page, the Add Storage System dialog box displays a vCenter Server box
where you can specify which vCenter Server the storage system is to be added to. If you add a
storage system by right-clicking a datacenter name, you do not have the option to specify a vCenter
Server because the server is already associated with that datacenter.
Discovery happens in one of the following ways. In each case, you must supply credentials for any
newly discovered storage system.
When the VSC Windows service starts, VSC begins its automatic background discovery process.
You click the Update All icon or select it from the Actions menu (Actions > Netapp VSC >
Update All).
All of the VSC features require specific permissions to perform tasks. You can limit what users can
do based on the credentials associated with the Data ONTAP role. All users with the same storage
system user name and password pair share the same set of storage system credentials and can
perform the same operations.
Steps
1. From the Virtual Storage Console Home page, click Configuration > Set Default Credentials.
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2. In the Set Default Credentials pop-up box, enter the credentials for the storage system.
Related tasks
Discovering storage systems and hosts on page 76
Steps
1. From the storage system, enter the following command to switch to a particular vFiler context:
vfiler context vfiler_name
2. Enter the following command in the vFiler context to set the required option that enables
discovery in VSC:
options httpd.admin.enable on
3. Repeat these steps for each vFiler unit you want to manage using VSC.
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Steps
2. In the Add Storage System dialog box, enter the management IP address and credentials for the
vFiler unit, and then click OK.
When you add storage from the VSC Storage System page, you must also specify the vCenter
Server where the storage will be located. The Add Storage System dialog box provides a drop-
down list of the available vCenter Servers. VSC does not display this option if you are adding
storage to a datacenter that is already associated with a vCenter Server.
Result
VSC discovers all of the vFiler units that belong to the parent vFiler unit that provides storage to
ESX hosts.
Steps
2. Right-click a datacenter, and select Actions > NetApp VSC > Update Host and Storage Data.
Working with storage systems | 77
VSC displays a Confirm dialog box that warns you that this operation can take a long time.
3. Click OK.
4. Right-click any discovered storage controllers that have the status Authentication Failure, and
select Modify.
Steps
1. Add a storage system to VSC using either the Add icon or the Add Storage System menu
option:
c. Click the Actions > NetApp VSC > Add Storage System.
2. In the Add Storage System dialog box, enter the management IP address and credentials for that
storage system.
You can also change the defaults for TLS and the port number in this dialog box.
When you add storage from the VSC Storage System page, you must also specify the vCenter
Server where the storage will be located. The Add Storage System dialog box provides a drop-
down list of the available vCenter Servers. VSC does not display this option if you are adding
storage to a datacenter that is already associated with a vCenter Server.
especially useful if you changed the default credentials for the storage systems after receiving an
authentication error.
Steps
1. Go to the Storage page by clicking Storage from either the navigation pane of the Virtual
Storage Console Storage page or the icon on the VMware vSphere Web Client Home page.
Step
1. You can remove a storage system by clicking Storage from either the VSC Home page or the
VMware vSphere Web Client Home page.
The action VSC takes depends on whether the storage system is attached to a host:
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Steps
1. From the Virtual Storage Console Home page, click Storage Systems.
2. Right-click the unknown storage system, and then select Modify Storage System.
3. Enter the management IP address of the storage system and the storage system credentials in the
Modify storage system -unknown- pop-up box.
VSC must have network connectivity to the management port that you specify.
Steps
1. From the Virtual Storage Console Home page, click Storage Systems.
Working with storage systems | 81
2. Right-click the storage system that you want to modify, and select Modify from the Actions
menu.
3. In the Modify Storage System dialog box, click the Provisioning Options tab.
4. If the storage system properties have been locked to prevent changes, click Enable Editing. In
the resulting dialog box, enter the user name and password for that storage system. Virtual
Storage Console for VMware vSphere will not let you change the settings until you enter this
information.
5. After you have enabled editing, select the boxes next to the advanced options, and modify the
FlexVol volume efficiency settings to match the settings on the LUN that is being deployed.
Note: If a thin-provisioned LUN is deployed into a FlexVol volume with the volume autogrow
or snapshot autodelete option is disabled, it is possible to over-commit the LUN to the volume.
This creates an out-of-space condition.
Option Description
Create a new volume for a new LUN Creates a FlexVol volume with the same name
as the LUN. If a volume with that name
already exists, VSC appends a number to the
volume name.
For example: Volname01
Reserve space for volumes that contain thin- Results in having a thin LUN in a thick
provisioned LUNs volume when a thin LUN is chosen.
Thin provision volume clones Sets the space reservation policy to thin
provisioning for clones that are created from
this volume.
Delete a volume if the last LUN in it has been Destroys the volume when the last LUN on it
deleted is deleted.
Buffer space between a volume and a LUN Specifies the amount of additional capacity in
(GB) a volume that contains a LUN-based
datastore.
The Supported Protocols column reports the storage protocols actually in use by ESX and ESXi
hosts instead of the protocols licensed for the storage controller.
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The Alert icon in the Status column means that the vFiler unit does not respond to VSC. The
Normal icon means that VSC is able to communicate with the vFiler unit.
No detailed status is returned for vFiler units. The Status Reason column displays This
controller is a MultiStore vFiler unit. You can connect to the physical controller
that owns the vFiler unit to get more status information.
VSC supports the following features when the storage system connects to a cluster management LIF.
However, VSC does not support these features when the storage system connects directly to an SVM:
EMS logging
VSC cannot perform EMS logging when the storage system is directly attached to an SVM.
native to physical clients. In order to have a direct data path, the client must access a data LIF that is
local to the node that owns the exported FlexVol.
VSC monitors which LIFs NFS is using to access the volume. You can see whether a LIF uses a
direct data path or an indirect data path by clicking the NAS tab in the Related Objects page for a
storage system and viewing the Data Path Access column. This column displays the path setting as
Direct (green check), Indirect (red exclamation point (!)), N/A, or (unknown).
If the path setting is indirect, you can right-click that row and select the View Direct Data Path
Choices option. This option displays the Direct Data Path Choices pop-up, which contains a list of
ports using direct paths to access data.
Note: VSC does not check these ports to ensure that they are connected to the network. You must
do that manually.
Anytime the data path access changes, either to direct from indirect or to indirect from direct, VSC
writes the path information to a log file.
If a direct Storage Virtual Machine (SVM) connection is made, VSC cannot query the storage
controller to determine the path.
An N/A (not applicable) entry indicates a path to a storage controller running Data ONTAP operating
in 7-Mode, so there is no issue about whether the path is direct.
An unknown path occurs if the discovery data is incomplete.
Steps
1. From the Virtual Storage Console Home page, click Storage > <storage system name> >
Related Objects > NAS.
2. Right-click a row that has an indirect data path (shown as Indirect) and select the View Direct
Data Path Choices option.
This option displays the Direct Data Path Choices pop-up, which contains a list of ports to data
paths providing direct access. You cannot use this window to change the path, but you can use it
to get information about the available ports.
3. Manually check to make sure the port you want to use is connected to the network.
VSC displays the ports without checking their network connectivity. If you try to use a port that is
not connected to the network, your datastore will go offline.
4. After you have confirmed that the path you want to use is connected to the network, collect the
information displayed in the Direct Data Path Choices pop-up and give it to a storage
administrator.
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The Direct Data Path Choices pop-up contains all the information a storage administrator needs
to move the LIF.
To create a data path with direct access, you must have the correct credentials.
Note: If multiple datastores are using that LIF, moving the LIF will cause the other datastores
to have data paths with indirect data access.
5. Use either the storage system console or a NetApp tool such as System Manager to change the
path.
Note: Whenever the path value changes, VSC writes the information to a log file.
85
The following workflow shows how you can provision datastores using the Datastore Provisioning
wizard before using the Create Rapid Clones wizard to clone virtual machines. This workflow is
beneficial because the Datastore Provisioning wizard allows you to specify a storage capability
profile, which ensures that consistent Service Level Objectives (SLOs) are maintained and simplifies
the provisioning process, if you use VASA Provider for clustered Data ONTAP.
Provisioning datastores
Provisioning a datastore creates a logical container for your virtual machines and their VMDKs. You
can provision a datastore and attach it to a single host, to the hosts in a cluster, or to the hosts in a
datacenter by using the Datastore Provisioning wizard.
To provision NFS datastores to vFiler units, you must have added the default vFiler unit (vFiler0)
to Virtual Storage Console for VMware vSphere.
To provision a datastore to a Storage Virtual Machine (SVM, formerly known as Vserver) that is
directly connected to VSC, you must have added the SVM to VSC using a user account that has
the appropriate privileges, not the default vsadmin user account or vsadmin role.
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If you use NFS or iSCSI and the subnet is different between your ESX hosts and your storage
system, NFS or iSCSI settings in the VSC preferences file must include the ESX host subnet
masks.
For more information, see Enabling datastore mounting across different subnets on page 55.
For an NFS datastore, VSC creates an NFS volume on the storage system and updates export
policies.
For a VMFS datastore, VSC creates a new volume (or uses an existing volume, if you selected
that option), and creates a LUN and an igroup.
Steps
1. From the vSphere Web Client Home page, click Hosts and Clusters.
2. In the navigation pane, expand the datacenter where you want to provision the datastore.
4. Complete the pages in the Datastore Provisioning wizard to create the datastore.
Deploying virtual machines on NetApp storage | 87
a. In the Name and type page, specify a datastore name, datastore type, and select a storage
capability profile, if desired.
You can specify an existing storage capability profile that the wizard will use when defining
the type of storage that you need for your virtual machines. The storage capability profile
determines the following storage features: availability, disaster recovery, performance,
protocol, and space efficiency. Storage capability profiles are available only if you installed
and registered the VASA Provider for clustered Data ONTAP. You can select a default storage
capability profile, which ships with the VASA Provider, a profile that you created, or a profile
that was auto-generated. To provision a datastore without a storage capability profile, select
None.
b. In the Storage system page, specify the storage system that you want to use for the datastore.
Note: When connecting directly to an SVM, the provisioning operation might begin, but
later fail due to insufficient privileges for the SVM user. SVM privileges are not visible to
VSC prior to the operation. If the operation fails, you need to modify the privileges for that
SVM user. You can check VSC logs for messages that identify the failed command. An
alternative is to use the "RBAC User Creator for Data ONTAP" tool.
c. In the Details page, specify details about the datastore that you want to create.
Most of the fields on this page are self-explanatory. The following table describes fields for
which you might need guidance:
Field Description
Thin Allocates space on the volume when data is written, which allows you to
provision provision more storage than is currently available. If disabled, space is
reserved immediately.
You must closely monitor the available space in the containing aggregate
because thin provisioning can oversubscribe the available space. In an NFS
configuration, you can enable auto grow to automatically expand the datastore
when space is needed. Make sure that the value you specify for auto grow is
larger than the size of the datastore.
Aggregate Defines the aggregate on which you want to create a new volume. If you
selected an SVM that is directly connected to VSC, striped aggregates appear
as available; however, they are not supported. Provisioning to a striped
aggregate will fail.
Volume Specifies the volume on which you want to create the datastore. For clustered
Data ONTAP, you should not create a datastore in the Storage Virtual Machine
(SVM) root volume.
Auto (NFS only) Automatically expands the datastore by the specified increment
grow when space is needed, up to the size limit. This size limit you specify must be
larger than the existing datastore.
Datastore Adds the datastore to a cluster if the Storage Distributed Resource Scheduler
cluster (SDRS) feature is enabled on the vCenter Server. Do not mix datastores with
varying offsets in the same cluster and do not mix optimized and non-
optimized datastores.
d. In the Ready to complete page, review the summary of your selections and click Finish.
Result
VSC creates the datastore.
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Related concepts
Storage system discovery and credentials overview on page 72
How to configure Data ONTAP role-based access control for VSC for VMware vSphere on page
68
You should have created a virtual machine template using VMware vSphere.
You should have installed the NFS Plug-in for VMware VAAI.
While not required, installing the plug-in is a best practice because it reduces load from the host
and places it on the storage system, which increases cloning efficiency.
Steps
3. In the navigation pane, expand the datacenter that contains the virtual machine template.
4. Right-click the virtual machine template and select NetApp VSC > Create Rapid Clones.
If VSC warns you that the virtual machine is misaligned or functionally aligned, take the virtual
machine offline and use a tool like VMware vCenter Converter to fix the VMDK alignment
before you proceed.
Note: If you do not fix the alignment of a functionally aligned virtual machine, the clones can
be misaligned if the destination datastores are not optimized for the VMDK layout of the
clones.
5. Complete the pages in the Create Rapid Clones wizard to clone the virtual machines.
a. In the Clone destination page, select a destination for the clones (a host, host cluster, or
datacenter) and a folder to hold the clones (the default is no folder).
If you choose a cluster or datacenter, VSC spreads the virtual machines evenly across the
hosts.
Note: This page appears if you chose the Select a folder option in the Clone destination
page.
c. In the Disk format page, select a disk format for the clones.
If you choose the thin provisioned format or the thick format, the wizard warns you that a
vSphere clone operation might be required, which can take longer.
d. In the Virtual machine details page, specify details about the virtual machine clones.
Most of the fields on this page are self-explanatory. The following table describes fields for
which you might need guidance:
Field Description
Number of Specifies the number of virtual CPUs for the virtual machines.
virtual
processors
Upgrade Upgrades the hardware version of the virtual machine clone if the
hardware destination host supports a later version.
version?
Connection Automatically imports clone data into a VMware View Server or creates
broker version a .csv file that you can import into Citrix XenDesktop.
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Field Description
Customization Applies a VMware specification to the new virtual machines. Refer to
specification your VMware documentation for information about customization
specifications.
Stagger Staggers the start up of virtual machines to avoid overwhelming your
powering on the system. You should select this option if you have a large number of
virtual machines virtual machines. The number of virtual machines to start per minute
depends on your system environment.
Note: If a problem prevents VSC from starting some of the virtual
machines, the delay could result in VSC powering on a large number
of virtual machines at once. For example, if you specify 10 virtual
machines per minute and the start is delayed by five minutes, VSC
starts 50 virtual machines at once. After the delay, VSC starts the
specified number of virtual machines per minute.
e. In the Storage system details page, select the storage system where you want to provision the
clones.
f. In the Datastore options page, choose basic mode or advanced mode to specify the datastore
options.
The advanced mode is a good choice if you want to distribute configuration files and VMDK
files across multiple datastores.
g. In the Datastore details page, select existing datastores or create new datastores for the
clones.
Most of the fields on this page are self-explanatory. The following table describes fields for
which you might need guidance when you create new datastores:
Field Description
Number of Specifies the number of datastores to create for the clones. The
datastores maximum is 256. The number of clones must be evenly divisible by the
number of datastores.
Thin provision Allocates space on the volume when data is written, which allows you to
provision more storage than is currently available. If disabled, space is
reserved immediately.
You must closely monitor the available space in the containing aggregate
because thin provisioning can oversubscribe the available space. In an
NFS configuration, you can enable auto grow to automatically expand
the datastore when space is needed. Make sure that the value you specify
for auto grow is larger than the size of the datastore.
Size (GB) Specifies the size per datastore.
Aggregate Defines the aggregate on which you want to create a new volume. If you
selected an SVM that is directly connected to VSC, striped aggregates
appear as available; however, they are not supported. Provisioning to a
striped aggregate will fail.
Volume Specifies the volume on which you want to create the datastore. For
clustered Data ONTAP, you should not create a datastore in the Storage
Virtual Machine (SVM) root volume.
Auto grow (NFS only) Automatically expands the datastore by the specified
increment when space is needed, up to the size limit. This size limit you
specify must be larger than the existing datastore.
Deploying virtual machines on NetApp storage | 91
Field Description
Datastore cluster Adds the datastore to a cluster if the Storage Distributed Resource
Scheduler (SDRS) feature is enabled on the vCenter Server. Do not mix
datastores with varying offsets in the same cluster and do not mix
optimized and non-optimized datastores.
h. In the Connection broker page, specify the VMware view or Citrix XenDesktop connection
broker to which you want to import clone data.
If your connection broker does not appear, you must first add it by going to Virtual Storage
Console > Configuration > Connection Brokers.
Note: This page appears if you chose a connection broker version in the Virtual machine
details page.
i. In the Ready to complete page, Review the summary of your selections and click Finish.
Result
VSC creates the virtual machine clones and creates a .csv file that includes details about the cloning
process. The file, named import_generic_timestamp.csv, is created here: VSC_install_dir
\etc\kamino\exports
If you chose a VMware View connection broker, VSC automatically imports clone data into the
VMware View Server.
If you chose a XenDesktop connection broker, VSC creates a .csv file that you can use to import
into XenDesktop. The file, named xenDesktop_timestamp.csv, is created here:
VSC_install_dir\etc\kamino\exports
Related concepts
How VSC for VMware features work with optional plug-ins, virtual appliances on page 12
NetApp NFS Plug-in for VAAI installation on page 33
Steps
2. In the navigation pane, expand the datacenter that contains the datastore.
5. In the Deduplication Details pane, view the State field to determine whether deduplication is
enabled or disabled.
6. If deduplication is disabled, at the bottom of the Deduplication Details pane, click Enable.
VSC enables deduplication on the volume. Deduplication runs daily at midnight.
For NFS datastores, the storage system must be running Data ONTAP 8.1.3 or later.
The volume on which the datastore resides must not be a SnapLock volume.
To avoid migration errors, the virtual machines must be part of datastores that have been scanned
by Virtual Storage Console for VMware vSphere.
Note: The Optimization and Migration page lists the offset group of a virtual machine, if its
containing datastore was scanned.
Steps
1. From the vSphere Web Client Home page, click vCenter Inventory Lists.
3. In the Objects table, select the virtual machines that you want to migrate.
Migrating multiple virtual machines at one time is I/O intensive. You should limit the number of
virtual machines that VSC migrates at one time to avoid over-stressing your system.
6. Complete the pages in the Migrate Virtual Machines wizard to migrate the virtual machines to a
new or existing datastore.
a. In the Destination datastore page, specify whether you want to migrate the virtual machines
to an existing datastore or a new datastore.
b. (New datastore) In the Name and type page, specify a datastore name, datastore type (NFS or
VMFS), and for a VMFS datastore, the VMFS protocol (FC/FCoE or iSCSI).
c. In the Storage system page, specify the storage system that you want to use for the datastore.
d. (Existing datastore) In the Datastore selection page, select the destination datastore.
e. (New datastore) In the New datastore details page, specify details about the datastore that
you want to create.
Most of the fields on this page are self-explanatory. The following table describes fields for
which you might need guidance:
Field Description
Thin Allocates space on the volume when data is written, which allows you to
provision provision more storage than is currently available. If disabled, space is
reserved immediately.
You must closely monitor the available space in the containing aggregate
because thin provisioning can oversubscribe the available space. In an NFS
configuration, you can enable auto grow to automatically expand the datastore
when space is needed. Make sure that the value you specify for auto grow is
larger than the size of the datastore.
Aggregate Defines the aggregate on which you want to create a new volume. If you
selected an SVM that is directly connected to VSC, striped aggregates appear
as available; however, they are not supported. Provisioning to a striped
aggregate will fail.
Maintaining your VMware environment | 95
Field Description
Volume Specifies the volume on which you want to create the datastore. For clustered
Data ONTAP, you should not create a datastore in the Storage Virtual Machine
(SVM) root volume.
Auto (NFS only) Automatically expands the datastore by the specified increment
grow when space is needed, up to the size limit. This size limit you specify must be
larger than the existing datastore.
Datastore Adds the datastore to a cluster if the Storage Distributed Resource Scheduler
cluster (SDRS) feature is enabled on the vCenter Server. Do not mix datastores with
varying offsets in the same cluster and do not mix optimized and non-
optimized datastores.
f. In the Ready to complete page, Review the summary of your selections and click Finish.
Result
VSC starts the migration task. You cannot cancel this task.
Related concepts
Methods for migrating virtual machines on page 13
You must have used VSC when you originally cloned the virtual machines from the template.
Because redeploying resets the clone to the state of the template, you should first have backed up
any needed data.
Steps
1. From the vSphere Web Client Home page, click VMs and Templates.
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2. In the navigation pane, expand the datacenter that contains the virtual machine template.
3. Right-click the virtual machine and select NetApp VSC > Redeploy Clones.
4. In the Redeploy Clones dialog box, select the clones, choose their settings, and click OK.
The clones can inherit the VMware specification and power state from the template, or you can
define new settings.
For a large number of virtual machines, stagger the start up of those virtual machines so you do
not overwhelm your system.
Note: If a problem prevents VSC from starting some of the virtual machines, the delay could
result in VSC powering on a large number of virtual machines at once. For example, if you
specify 10 virtual machines per minute and the start is delayed by five minutes, VSC starts 50
virtual machines at once. After the delay, VSC starts the specified number of virtual machines
per minute.
5. To confirm that you want to power off and redeploy the selected virtual machines, click OK.
Result
VSC powers off the virtual machines and redeploys them based on the new template. After the
redeployment, VSC powers on the virtual machines, if you chose that option.
Related tasks
Cloning virtual machines from a template on page 88
Maintaining your VMware environment | 97
Virtual machine files must be on NFS datastores that are not backed by a qtree on a vFiler unit.
VMDKs must have NTFS partitions.
Steps
2. In the navigation pane, expand the datacenter that contains the datastore or the virtual machine.
3. Right-click the datastore or virtual machine and select NetApp VSC > Reclaim Space.
Result
VSC powers off the virtual machines and starts reclaiming the space.
Do not power on the virtual machines while space reclamation is in progress.
Steps
1. From the vSphere Web Client Home page, click Hosts and Clusters.
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2. In the navigation pane, expand the datacenter that contains the host.
3. Right-click the host and select NetApp VSC > Mount Datastores.
4. Select the datastores that you want to mount and click OK.
Result
VSC mounts the datastores on the host.
Resizing datastores
Resizing a datastore gives you more or less storage for your virtual machine files. You might need to
change the size of a datastore as your infrastructure requirements change.
Steps
2. In the navigation pane, expand the datacenter that contains the datastore.
4. In the Resize dialog box, specify a new size for the datastore and click OK.
Result
VSC resizes the datastore.
Related tasks
Managing settings for volumes on page 80
Destroying datastores
Destroying a datastore returns storage to your storage system and deletes associated objects such as
export policies and igroups. You might need to destroy a datastore when you decommission your
virtual machines.
Steps
2. In the navigator pane, right-click the datastore and select NetApp VSC > Destroy.
3. Click OK.
Result
VSC destroys the datastore.
101
Steps
1. Scan datastores to determine the alignment status of virtual machines on page 101
2. Check the alignment status of virtual machines on page 102
3. Align the I/O to any misaligned virtual machines on page 104
Related concepts
Methods for migrating virtual machines on page 13
How VSC for VMware vSphere optimizes I/O performance of misaligned virtual machines on
page 13
Virtual Storage Console for VMware vSphere uses VMware snapshots to scan virtual machines
that reside in VMFS datastores and then deletes the snapshots when they are no longer needed.
Steps
1. From the vSphere Web Client Home page, click Virtual Storage Console.
3. If your environment includes multiple vCenter Servers, you must select the server that contains
the datastores for which you want to scan.
To... Do this...
Schedule recurring scans
a. Click Global Scan Schedule and set a schedule for the scan.
You should schedule the scans during noncritical production times.
b. Click OK.
Result
VSC scans the datastores according to the options that you selected.
Steps
1. In the Optimization and Migration page, select a datastore from the datastores table (the table at
the top of the page).
After you select a datastore, the virtual machines running on that datastore appear in the virtual
machines table (the table at the bottom of the Optimization and Migration page).
2. In the virtual machines table, view the Alignment State column to identify the alignment state of
the virtual machines on that datastore.
Optimizing performance by aligning the I/O of misaligned virtual machines non-disruptively | 103
Tip: To quickly identify any misaligned virtual machines, select Show only misaligned virtual
machines.
Note: The View Disk Details button shows you the alignment details of a virtual machine's
VMDKs.
The virtual machine has more than one disk with different offsets
You should have scanned your datastores and found virtual machines with the alignment state
"Misaligned, Online migration capable."
For NFS datastores, the storage system must be running Data ONTAP 8.1.3 or later.
The volume on which the datastore resides must not be a SnapLock volume.
You should be aware of the following caveats and limitations with optimized datastores:
You cannot use the vStorage APIs for Array Integration (VAAI) extended copy feature with an
optimized datastore.
For NFS-optimized datastores, using Data ONTAP to perform an NDMP copy, NDMP
restore, or dump restore to the volume can be slower.
The alignment might require more space because deduplication is temporarily turned off when
VSC aligns the virtual machine.
Steps
1. In the Optimization and Migration page, select a datastore on which a misaligned virtual
machine is running.
After you select a datastore, the virtual machines that reside on that datastore appear in the virtual
machines table (the table at the bottom of the Optimization and Migration page).
2. In the virtual machines table, select one or more virtual machines with the status "Misaligned,
Online migration capable."
If you select multiple virtual machines, they must have the same offset group (the offset of the
largest disk partition).
You should limit the number of virtual machines that you migrate at one time to avoid over-
stressing your system.
Optimizing performance by aligning the I/O of misaligned virtual machines non-disruptively | 105
3. Click Migrate.
4. Complete the pages in the Migrate Virtual Machines wizard to migrate the virtual machine to an
optimized datastore.
a. In the Destination datastore page, specify whether you want to use an existing datastore or a
new datastore.
For existing datastores, you will be able to choose from datastores that are optimized for the
offset group of the virtual machine.
b. (New datastore) In the Name and type page, specify a datastore name, datastore type (NFS or
VMFS), and for a VMFS datastore, the VMFS protocol (FC/FCoE or iSCSI).
c. In the Storage system page, specify the storage system that you want to use for the datastore.
d. (Existing datastore) In the Datastore selection page, select the destination datastore.
VSC lists the datastores that are optimized for the VMDK layout of the virtual machine. If no
datastores are listed, go back and select the new datastore option.
e. (New datastore) In the New datastore details page, specify details about the datastore that
you want to create.
Most of the fields on this page are self-explanatory. The following table describes fields for
which you might need guidance:
Field Description
Thin Allocates space on the volume when data is written, which allows you to
provision provision more storage than is currently available. If disabled, space is
reserved immediately.
You must closely monitor the available space in the containing aggregate
because thin provisioning can oversubscribe the available space. In an NFS
configuration, you can enable auto grow to automatically expand the datastore
when space is needed. Make sure that the value you specify for auto grow is
larger than the size of the datastore.
Aggregate Defines the aggregate on which you want to create a new volume. If you
selected an SVM that is directly connected to VSC, striped aggregates appear
as available; however, they are not supported. Provisioning to a striped
aggregate will fail.
Volume Specifies the volume on which you want to create the datastore. For clustered
Data ONTAP, you should not create a datastore in the Storage Virtual Machine
(SVM) root volume.
Auto (NFS only) Automatically expands the datastore by the specified increment
grow when space is needed, up to the size limit. This size limit you specify must be
larger than the existing datastore.
Datastore Adds the datastore to a cluster if the Storage Distributed Resource Scheduler
cluster (SDRS) feature is enabled on the vCenter Server. Do not mix datastores with
varying offsets in the same cluster and do not mix optimized and non-
optimized datastores.
f. In the Ready to complete page, Review the summary of your selections and click Finish.
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Result
VSC starts the migration task. You cannot cancel this task.
Related tasks
Performing an on-demand backup of a virtual machine or datastore on page 112
Scheduling backup jobs that use the VSC backup feature on page 115
Adding a virtual machine or datastore to an existing backup job on page 117
You can specify a retention policy indicating either the maximum number of days or the maximum
number of backup jobs that are retained.
You can also set up email alerts for this backup job. You must first set the SMTP server and the
destination email addresses to receive an alert notification when an alarm is triggered or the system
status changes. You can enable or disable alarms and specify how often you receive email alerts when
an error or warning occurs. The Notify on options in the Schedule Backup wizard include the
following:
Always
An alert notification is always sent.
Errors or Warnings
A backup failure or a warning triggers an alert notification.
Errors
A backup failure or partial failure triggers an alert notification.
Never
An alert notification is never sent.
you to perform restore operations; and a SnapMirror and SnapVault license to enable you to use these
features when you set up options for a backup job. SnapMirror and SnapVault relationships also have
some additional requirements.
SnapRestore technology, when used with VSC, must be licensed for the storage systems where the
datastore and virtual machine system images reside.
SnapMirror and SnapVault relationships have the following requirements when used with VSC:
The volumes containing the active datastore and virtual machine images must be configured as
SnapMirror or SnapVault source volumes.
A SnapMirror relationship:
When used with ONTAP, the SnapMirror type must be DP and the policy type must be
async-mirror
A SnapVault relationship:
Must have a rule that specifies labels for the VSC backup schedule
Must have a rule that specifies labels for the VSC backup schedule
Must have the _recent Snapshot naming convention set to False in the smvi.override
file (for more information about this naming convention, see the
smvi.snapshot.recent.naming option).
Values that you can change in the smvi.override configuration file on page 132
The SnapVault policy must have a rule that specifies SnapMirror labels for the VSC backup
schedule. By default, the following are SnapMirror labels that should be set for the SnapVault
policy:
To use values other than the default values, you must specify the following labels in the
smvi.config file and then specify the same SnapMirror labels when you create the SnapVault
protection policy.
"snapvault.job.hourly.label"="VSC_XXXX"
"snapvault.job.daily.label"="VSC_XXXX"
"snapvault.job.weekly.label"="VSC_XXXX"
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"snapvault.job.monthly.label"="VSC_XXXX"
"snapvault.ondemand.label"="VSC_XXXX"
The source volumes must have a SnapMirror or SnapVault relationship with target volumes on a
second storage system that is licensed for SnapMirror or SnapVault.
The host names and IP addresses of the SnapMirror or SnapVault source and destination storage
systems must be resolvable for the SMVI server, either through a configured DNS server or
through host entries added to the host file on the SMVI server.
Cluster or Storage Virtual Machine (SVM) administrators must create node management LIFs or
cluster management LIFs, which are required to update SnapMirror or SnapVault relationships for
storage systems running ONTAP 8.2 or later.
The cluster management LIF is required for storage systems running a version of clustered Data
ONTAP prior to 8.1.
In the SnapCenter graphical user interface (GUI), you must have added the SVMs as direct
connections.
In the VSC GUI, you must have added the SVMs as cluster management LIFs.
Steps
4. Select the options that you want in the Details pane of the Create Backup Policy dialog box.
Most of the fields in the wizard are self-explanatory. The following table provides some tips for
working with the fields:
Option Description
vCenter Server If your environment includes multiple vCenter Server instances, you must
select the server that is associated with this instance of VSC from the
drop-down list.
It does not matter which instance of VSC you use to create a backup
policy. All backup policies are available to all VSC instances that are
registered with SnapCenter.
Name and It is a good practice to provide a name and description for the policy so
Description that you can quickly identify it.
VM consistent You can select this box to create a VMware snapshot each time the backup
snapshot job runs.
Update You can select this option if you want to start a SnapMirror update on the
SnapMirror after selected entities concurrent with each backup copy. If you select this
backup option, you must ensure that the following conditions are met:
The SnapCenter Server must be able to resolve the host name and IP
address of the source and destination storage systems.
Create remote You can select this box to start a remote SnapVault backup of the entities
backup after that you are backing up. If you select this option, you must ensure that the
backup using following conditions are met:
SnapVault
The entities must reside in volumes that are configured as SnapVault
source volumes.
Include datastores You can select this box to include any datastores with independent disks
with independent that contain temporary data.
disks
Snapshot label You can use this option to specify a customized label for the SnapVault
protection policy.
Schedule You can use this option to select a schedule for the backup. You can
specify the backup schedule as hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, or on
demand.
After you select the schedule, you can specify the details. For example, if
you select hourly backups you can specify details such as the start date and
time.
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Option Description
Retention You can select this option to indicate how long VSC keeps this backup.
You can select one of the following options:
Maximum Days
You can enter the number of days that you want VSC to keep this
backup.
Maximum Backups
You can enter the number of copies of this backup that you want VSC
to keep. You can specify up to 254 backup copies. When the maximum
limit is met, VSC deletes the oldest backup.
Backups Never Expire
If you select this option, VSC keeps the backup until you manually
delete it.
5. Optional: Specify the location of any scripts that you want to run before and after the backup on
the Scripts pane of the Create Backup Policy dialog box.
You can also set the default timeout values for the scripts on this pane.
Note: The technical report SnapManager 2.0 for Virtual Infrastructure Best Practices
contains information about setting up and using backup scripts.
http://www.netapp.com/us/media/tr-3737.pdf
6. Click OK.
Steps
1. From the vSphere Web Client Home page, click VMs and Templates to view virtual machines or
click Storage to view datastores.
Backing up virtual machines and datastores | 113
2. In the navigation pane, expand the datacenter that contains the virtual machine or datastore,
depending on whether you are in the VMs and Templates view or the Storage view.
3. Right-click the datastore or virtual machine and select NetApp VSC > Backup > Backup Now.
4. Enter a name for the backup job and manually select the options you want the job to use, which
include the following:
If you want to start a SnapVault update on the selected entities concurrent with every backup
copy, select Initiate SnapVault update.
Note: The SnapVault option is only supported on clustered Data ONTAP 8.2 or later.
For this option to execute successfully, the selected entities must reside in volumes that are
configured as SnapVault source volumes and a destination volume must also exist.
If you want to start a SnapMirror update on the selected entities concurrent with every backup
copy, select Initiate SnapMirror update.
For this option to execute successfully, the selected entities must reside in volumes that are
configured as SnapMirror source volumes and a destination volume must also exist.
The SnapManager for Virtual Infrastructure server should be able to resolve the host name and
IP address of the source and destination storage systems in the snapmirror.conf file.
If you want to create a VMware snapshot every time the backup job runs, select Perform
VMware consistency snapshot.
If you want to include independent disks from datastores that contain temporary data, select
Include datastores with independent disks.
5. Click OK.
For environments running Data ONTAP 8.2.2 or later where you have registered VSC with
SnapCenter, VSC uses SnapCenter to perform the backup.
One advantage of this option is that you can use the backup policy feature provided by
SnapCenter. A backup policy contains the set of rules that govern the backup, such as when the
backup is scheduled and what the retention policy is. You must create the backup policy before
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you create and schedule the backup. Each instance of VSC that you register with SnapCenter can
access all of the policies, even if a policy was created with a different instance of VSC.
You can assign multiple policies to a single backup job. Doing this enables you to set up multiple
schedules for performing the backup job.
Note: Although VSC seamlessly supports SnapCenter, if you log in to SnapCenter, you will
see that the term datasets in SnapCenter corresponds to the term backup jobs in VSC.
For environments that have not registered with SnapCenter or that are running either clustered
Data ONTAP prior to 8.2.2 or Data ONTAP operating in 7-Mode, VSC uses its standard backup
feature.
The VSC backup feature does not support backup policies, so you must enter the scheduling and
retention information each time you create a backup.
The storage systems must be running clustered Data ONTAP 8.2.2 or later.
You must have created the backup policies that you want to associate with the backup job.
Steps
b. In the navigation pane, expand the datacenter that contains the virtual
machine or datastore, depending on whether you are in the VMs and
Templates view or the Storage view.
c. Click the Add icon on the Backup Jobs page in the vSphere Web
Client.
2. On the first page of the Schedule Backup wizard, enter a name and description for the backup
job that enables you to identify the job easily.
3. On the Spanning Entities page, specify how you want to handle spanned entities.
Spanned entities might be a virtual machine that has multiple VMDKs across multiple datastores.
You can exclude all spanned entities, include all spanned entities, or manually select specific
spanned entities that you want to include in the backup job.
Note: If you choose to manually select the datastores, you must check the list of included
virtual machines and update the list if necessary each time you add virtual machines to the
datastore.
4. On the Policies page, select the backup policies that you want to use with this backup.
You can select multiple polices. For example, you might have one policy that schedules daily
backups and another policy that schedules monthly backups.
5. On the Email Alerts page, specify whether you want to receive email alerts about the status of
the backup job.
The vSphere Web Client must be connected to a vCenter Server to create backup copies.
Your storage systems are running either clustered Data ONTAP prior to 8.2.2 or Data ONTAP
operating in 7-Mode.
Your storage systems are running clustered Data ONTAP 8.2.2 or later, but you did not register
VSC with SnapCenter.
When you create the backup job using the VSC backup feature, you can set a schedule for when the
job executes, specify a retention policy, and create an automated policy for email alerts.
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Note: VSC supports either SnapMirror updates or SnapVault updates. At this time, it does not
support both.
After you schedule the backup job, you must go to the Backup Jobs page in the vSphere Web Client
to run it.
Steps
1. To create and schedule a backup job, take one of the following actions:
To... Do this...
Create a backup job for a
a. From the vSphere Web Client Home page, click VMs and Templates
specific datastore or virtual
to view virtual machines or click Storage to view datastores.
machine
b. In the navigation pane, expand the datacenter that contains the virtual
machine or datastore, depending on whether you are in the VMs and
Templates view or the Storage view.
c. Click the Add icon on the Backup Jobs page in the vSphere Web
Client.
2. On the first page of the Schedule Backup wizard, type a name for the backup job and add a
description.
3. Optional: On the Options page, select the options you want for this backup job.
You have the following options:
If you want to start a SnapVault update on the selected entities concurrent with each backup
copy, select Initiate SnapVault update.
Note: The SnapVault option is only supported on clustered Data ONTAP 8.2 or later.
For this option to execute successfully, the selected entities must reside in volumes that are
configured as SnapVault source volumes and a destination volume must also exist.
If you want to start a SnapMirror update on the selected entities concurrent with every backup
copy, select Initiate SnapMirror update.
For this option to execute successfully, the selected entities must reside in volumes that are
configured as SnapMirror source volumes and a destination volume must also exist.
The SnapManager for Virtual Infrastructure server should be able to resolve the host name and
IP address of the source and destination storage systems in the snapmirror.conf file.
If you want to create a VMware snapshot every time the backup job runs, select Perform
VMware consistency snapshot.
If you want to include independent disks from datastores that contain temporary data, select
Include datastores with independent disks.
Backing up virtual machines and datastores | 117
4. From the Spanned Entities page, select the procedure you want to use if an entity, such as a
virtual machine with multiple VMDKs, spans multiple datastores.
6. From the Schedule and Retention page, specify when you want the backup performed and how
long you want to keep it.
8. Go to the Backup Jobs page to select the job, and then choose Run Job Now.
Related tasks
Modifying the job properties of a scheduled backup job on page 118
Suspending an active backup job on page 118
Resuming a suspended backup job on page 119
Deleting a scheduled backup job on page 119
Steps
1. From the vSphere Web Client Home page, click VMs and Templates to view virtual machines or
click Storage to view datastores.
2. In the navigation pane, expand the datacenter that contains the virtual machine or datastore
depending on whether you are in the VMs and Templates view or the Storage view.
3. Right-click the datastore or virtual machine and select NetApp VSC > Backup > Add to
Backup Job.
4. In the Add to Backup Job dialog box, select the backup job to which you want to add the
datastore or virtual machine.
5. Click OK.
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Steps
1. From the vSphere Web Client Home page, click vCenter Inventory Lists.
3. Right-click the backup job whose properties you want to modify and select Modify.
4. Click the appropriate tab for the properties that you want to modify for this backup job.
5. Modify backup job properties as necessary, and then click OK to change the properties.
Steps
1. From the vSphere Web Client Home page, click vCenter Inventory Lists.
Backing up virtual machines and datastores | 119
3. Right-click the active backup job that you want to suspend and select Suspend.
4. Click OK when you receive the confirmation prompt to suspend the active backup job.
Steps
1. From the vSphere Web Client Home page, click vCenter Inventory Lists.
3. Right-click the suspended backup job that you want to resume and select Resume.
4. Click OK when you receive the confirmation prompt to resume the suspended backup job.
Steps
1. From the vSphere Web Client Home page, click vCenter Inventory Lists.
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Related tasks
Restoring data from backup copies on page 124
Mounting a backup copy on page 122
Unmounting a backup copy on page 123
Yes, if a VMware snapshot operation was successful and the guest operating system was
quiesced.
No, if a VMware snapshot was not selected or the operation failed because the guest operating
system could not be quiesced.
Steps
1. From the vSphere Web Client Home page, click VMs and Templates to view virtual machines or
click Storage to view datastores.
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2. In the navigation pane, expand the datacenter that contains the virtual machine or datastore,
depending on whether you are in the VMs and Templates view or the Storage view.
3. Right-click the datastore or virtual machine and select NetApp VSC > Restore.
Steps
1. From the vSphere Web Client Home page, click VMs and Templates to view virtual machines or
click Storage to view datastores.
2. In the navigation pane, expand the datacenter that contains the virtual machine or datastore.
The type of object that you select depends on whether you are in the VMs and Templates view
or the Storage view.
3. Right-click the datastore of the virtual machine, and select NetApp VSC > Mount Backup.
Restoring virtual machines and datastores from backup copies | 123
4. In the Mount Backup dialog box, select the name of an unmounted backup copy that you want to
mount.
In VSC environments that support SnapCenter, you can select individual datastores to mount, or
you can choose to mount all datastores.
The dialog box always displays the primary backup copies for the object, indicated by P. If you
used SnapMirror or SnapVault to replicate the backup and your VSC environment supports
SnapCenter, the Mount Backup dialog box also displays a list of the secondary backup copies (S)
that are on a different volume. You can select either a primary backup or a secondary backup.
5. Select the name of the ESX server to which you want to mount the backup copy.
You can mount only one backup copy at a time, and you cannot mount a backup that is already
mounted.
If you are mounting a backup that was created by using SnapCenter, you can specify which
datastores to mount.
If you are mounting a datastore that was created by using the VSC backup feature, all datastores
residing in the backup copy, even ones that were added because of spanned VMs, are mounted.
6. Click OK.
Steps
1. From the vSphere Web Client Home page, click VMs and Templates to view virtual machines or
click Storage to view datastores.
2. In the navigation pane, expand the datacenter that contains the virtual machine or datastore
depending on whether you are in the VMs and Templates view or the Storage view.
3. Right-click the datastore of virtual machine and select NetApp VSC > Unmount Backup.
4. In the Unmount Backup dialog box, select the name of a mounted backup that you want to
unmount.
5. Click OK.
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Steps
1. From the vSphere Web Client Home page, click VMs and Templates to view virtual machines or
click Storage to view datastores.
2. In the navigation pane, expand the datacenter that contains the virtual machine or datastore,
depending on whether you are in the VMs and Templates view or the Storage view.
3. Right-click the datastore or virtual machine and select NetApp VSC > Restore.
4. In the Restore wizard, select the backup copy that you want to restore from and then click Next.
Option Description
The entire virtual machine Restores the contents to the last datastore in which it resided from a
Snapshot copy with a particular time and date. The Restart VM check
box is enabled if you select this option and the virtual machine is
registered.
Particular virtual disks Restores the contents of individual VMDKs to the most current or
alternate datastore. This option is enabled when you clear The entire
virtual machine option.
SnapCenter, the dialog box also displays a list of the secondary backup copies (S) that are on a
different volume. You can select either a primary or secondary backup.
7. Click OK.
During the restore operation, the virtual machine is powered down.
You can track the progress of the restore operation from the Recent Tasks pane in the vSphere
Web Client.
Steps
1. From the vSphere Web Client Home page, click VMs and Templates.
2. In the navigation pane, expand the datacenter that contains the virtual machine.
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3. Right-click the virtual machine, and select NetApp VSC > Attach Virtual Disk.
4. In the top part of the Attach Virtual Disk dialog box, select the backup copy.
VSC displays all the virtual disks that are included in that backup.
6. Click OK.
You can track the progress of the attach operation from the Recent Tasks panel in the vSphere
Web Client.
7. Log in to the guest operating system, and mount the attached disk as a drive.
You can now get the file that you want to restore.
Steps
1. On the vSphere Web Client Home page, click VMs and Templates.
2. In the navigation pane, expand the datacenter that contains the virtual machine.
3. Right-click the virtual machine, and then select NetApp VSC > Detach Virtual Disk.
Restoring virtual machines and datastores from backup copies | 127
4. In the top part of the Detach Virtual Disk(s) dialog box, select each virtual disk that you want to
detach from the virtual machine.
5. Click OK.
6. When VSC prompts you to confirm that you want to detach the selected virtual disks, click OK
again.
Note: After you detach a virtual disk, you cannot recover any data that you added to it.
You can track the progress of the detach operation from the Recent Tasks panel in the vSphere
Web Client.
128
Troubleshooting
If you encounter unexpected behavior during the installation or configuration of VSC for VMware
vSphere, you can follow specific troubleshooting procedures to identify and resolve the cause of such
issues.
Get links to tools, such as the "RBAC User Creator for Data ONTAP."
Submit general questions about PowerShell cmdlets and APIs that can be used with VSC.
See the latest NetApp news about VSC, such as when a beta testing program might be available.
This behavior happens because the vCenter Server does not provide an option to remove privileges.
When you reinstall VSC or upgrade to a newer version of VSC, all the standard VSC roles and VSC-
specific privileges are restored.
Steps
1. From the Virtual Storage Console Home page, click Configuration > Export VSC Logs.
This operation can take several minutes.
Steps
1. Click the link in the error message about expired credentials, or point a Web browser to the
registration Web page:
https://hostname:8143/Register.html
hostname is the host name or IP address of the server where VSC is installed.
If a security certificate warning is displayed, choose the option to ignore it or to continue to the
Web site.
The Plugin registration Web page is displayed with the current credentials.
2. Enter the new password for the user name shown, or enter a new user name and password.
The scbr.override configuration file is used in VSC environments that support SnapCenter.
If this file does not exist, you must create it in the C:\Program Files\NetApp\Virtual
Storage Console\etc\scbr directory.
You must restart the VSC Windows service for the changes you make to take effect.
The smvi.override configuration file is used in environments that use the VSC backup and
restore features.
This file is located in the installation directory at C:\Program Files\NetApp\VSC\smvi
\server\etc\smvi.override.
You must restart the server for the changes you make to take effect.
Troubleshooting | 131
Note: For information about setting up and using backup scripts, see the technical report
SnapManager 2.0 for Virtual Infrastructure Best Practices.
http://www.netapp.com/us/media/tr-3737.pdf
script.virtual.machine.info.variable.name=VIRTUAL_MACHINE.%s
Provides the name of the environmental variable that contains information about the nth
virtual machine in the backup. You must set this variable before executing any user
defined scripts during a backup.
For example, the environmental variable VIRTUAL_MACHINE.2 provides information
about the second virtual machine in the backup.
storage.connection.timeout=600000
When you use VSC with SnapCenter, VSC pushes the storage credentials to the
SnapCenter Server. This value specifies the maximum timeout value in milliseconds that
the SnapCenter Server will wait for a response from the storage system.
vmware.esx.ip.kernel.ip.map
There is no default value. You use this value to map the ESX IP address to the VMkernel
IP address. By default, VSC uses the management VMkernel adapter IP address of the
ESX host. If you want VSC to use a different VMkernel adapter IP address, you must
provide an override value.
In this example, the management VMkernel adapter IP address is 10.225.10.56; however,
VSC uses the specified address of 10.225.20.59.
vmware.esx.ip.kernel.ip.map=10.225.10.56:10.225.20.59,
10.225.85.57:10.225.72.58
132 | VSC 6.2.1 for VMware vSphere Installation and Administration Guide
vmware.max.concurrent.snapshots=6
Specifies the maximum number of concurrent VMware snapshots that VSC performs on
the server.
This number is checked on a per datastore basis.
vmware.query.unresolved.retry.count=10
Specifies the maximum number of times VSC retries sending a query about unresolved
volumes because of ...time limit for holding off I/O... errors.
vmware.query.unresolved.retry.delay= 60000
Specifies the maximum amount of time in milliseconds that VSC waits between sending
the queries regarding unresolved volumes because of ...time limit for holding off I/O...
errors. This error occurs when cloning a VMFS datastore.
vmware.quiesce.retry.count=0
Specifies the maximum number of times VSC retries sending a query about VMware
snapshots because of ...time limit for holding off I/O... errors during a backup.
vmware.quiesce.retry.interval=5
Specifies the maximum amount of time in milliseconds that VSC waits between sending
the queries regarding VMware snapshot ...time limit for holding off I/O... errors during
a backup.
The log messages between the user interface and the server are at C:\Program Files\NetApp
\Virtual Storage Console\log\smvi.log.
In Windows 2003, Windows 2008, Windows 2008 R2, and Windows 7 environments, select
Control Panel > Network connections > Network and Sharing Center.
In Windows Vista and Windows XP environments, select Control Panel > Network
connections.
You may have reached the maximum number of NFS volumes configured in
the vCenter
This message triggers when you attempt to mount a backup copy of an NFS datastore on a Storage
Virtual Machine (SVM, formerly known as Vserver) with the root volume in a load-sharing mirror
relationship.
The mount operation fails with the following message:
You may have reached the maximum number of NFS volumes configured
in the vCenter. Check the vSphere Client for any error messages.
To prevent this problem, when you add a storage system running clustered Data ONTAP to Virtual
Storage Console, you must use the cluster management IP address instead of the SVM IP address.
VMware vSphere does not remove snapshot delta disks during a restore
operation
When you restore a backup of a virtual machine on a Windows 2008 or Windows 2008 R2 system,
Virtual Storage Console for VMware vSphere does not always remove all snapshot delta disks.
During a backup, VSC creates the quiesced VMware snapshot, which results in the creation of
snapshot delta disks. However, if you restore the virtual machine, revert to the VMware snapshot
taken during the backup process, and then delete it, not all the delta disk files are deleted.
There is no workaround for this issue.
135
Copyright information
Copyright 19942017 NetApp, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.
No part of this document covered by copyright may be reproduced in any form or by any means
graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or storage in an
electronic retrieval systemwithout prior written permission of the copyright owner.
Software derived from copyrighted NetApp material is subject to the following license and
disclaimer:
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY NETAPP "AS IS" AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE,
WHICH ARE HEREBY DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL NETAPP BE LIABLE FOR ANY
DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE
GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT,
STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN
ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE
POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
NetApp reserves the right to change any products described herein at any time, and without notice.
NetApp assumes no responsibility or liability arising from the use of products described herein,
except as expressly agreed to in writing by NetApp. The use or purchase of this product does not
convey a license under any patent rights, trademark rights, or any other intellectual property rights of
NetApp.
The product described in this manual may be protected by one or more U.S. patents, foreign patents,
or pending applications.
RESTRICTED RIGHTS LEGEND: Use, duplication, or disclosure by the government is subject to
restrictions as set forth in subparagraph (c)(1)(ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer
Software clause at DFARS 252.277-7103 (October 1988) and FAR 52-227-19 (June 1987).
136
Trademark information
Active IQ, AltaVault, Arch Design, ASUP, AutoSupport, Campaign Express, Clustered Data ONTAP,
Customer Fitness, Data ONTAP, DataMotion, Element, Fitness, Flash Accel, Flash Cache, Flash
Pool, FlexArray, FlexCache, FlexClone, FlexPod, FlexScale, FlexShare, FlexVol, FPolicy, Fueled by
SolidFire, GetSuccessful, Helix Design, LockVault, Manage ONTAP, MetroCluster, MultiStore,
NetApp, NetApp Insight, OnCommand, ONTAP, ONTAPI, RAID DP, RAID-TEC, SANscreen,
SANshare, SANtricity, SecureShare, Simplicity, Simulate ONTAP, Snap Creator, SnapCenter,
SnapCopy, SnapDrive, SnapIntegrator, SnapLock, SnapManager, SnapMirror, SnapMover,
SnapProtect, SnapRestore, Snapshot, SnapValidator, SnapVault, SolidFire, SolidFire Helix,
StorageGRID, SyncMirror, Tech OnTap, Unbound Cloud, and WAFL and other names are
trademarks or registered trademarks of NetApp, Inc., in the United States, and/or other countries. All
other brands or products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders and
should be treated as such. A current list of NetApp trademarks is available on the web.
http://www.netapp.com/us/legal/netapptmlist.aspx
137
Index
backup policies
32-bit installations creating 110
upgrading VSC to 64-bit installations 30 setup specifications 108
64-bit installations backup retention
upgrading VSC from 32-bit installations 30 specifying 108
backup scripts
A controlling the runtime of 130
technical report that describes creating 108
accounts
configuring with RBAC 68
active backup jobs C
suspending 118 CD-ROM
alignments adding to virtual machine 39
checking the state of virtual machines 102 Citrix 51
performing an online alignment 104 Citrix XenDesktop
scanning datastores to determine for virtual adding connection brokers 51
machines 101 importing clone data into 88
architecture clone data 51
VSC 15 clone operation 51
attaching clones
virtual disks 125 creating from a template 88
AutoSupport messages importing clone data into connection broker 88
enabling for backup jobs 53 redeploying from a template 95
comments
B how to send feedback about documentation 137
Communities
backing up provide information about VSC 128
about 14 concurrent VMware snapshots
backup copies controlling the number created or deleted 130
finding 121 configuration
mounting 122 troubleshooting 130
restoring data from 121 troubleshooting VSC for VMware vSphere 128
searching for 121 VSC for VMware vSphere 43
unmounting from ESX servers 123 connection broker 53
backup jobs connection brokers
considerations for restoring data from backups with adding 51
failed VMware consistency snapshots 121 importing clone data into 88
creating automated policies for email alerts 113 Connection brokers panel 51
creating for virtual machines, datastores, or controller
datacenters 113 removing skipped or unmanaged 79
deleting scheduled 119 supports vFiler unit, SVM tunneling 75
enabling AutoSupport messages for 53 copies
modifying job properties of scheduled 118 unmounting backup, from ESX servers 123
resuming suspended 119 creating
retention policies 113 backup policy 110
scheduling 113 backup policy in systems running ONTAP 8.2.2 or
scripts 108 later 110
setting up alert notifications 54 credentials
SnapMirror and SnapVault requirements 108 default for storage controllers 73
Snapshot and SnapRestore requirements 108 modifying storage system credentials 76
specifications for adding 108 overview 72
suspending 118 setting for storage system 73
troubleshooting 130 upgrade considerations 26
backup mount errors using RBAC 68
You may have reached the maximum number of NFS csv 51
volumes configured in the vCenter 133 custom user accounts
backup operations configuring using RBAC 68
introduction to workflow 107
on-demand backups 112
Index | 139
D error logs
locations 132
datacenters reviewing 132
creating backup jobs for 113 error messages
datastores move failed 133
adding to existing backup jobs 117 You may have reached the maximum number of NFS
backing up with the VSC backup feature 115 volumes configured in the vCenter 133
cloning 12 ESX hosts
creating backup jobs for 113 configuring multipathing and timeout settings 35
destroying 99 restoring virtual disks on VMFS datastores 124
enabling deduplication on 91 settings 36
enabling mounting across subnets 55 timeout values 38
including in on-demand backups 112 ESX server and guest operating system
migrating virtual machines to 93 set by default 35
mounting on hosts 97 ESX servers
NFS indirect path 82 mounting backup copies onto 122
provisioning 12, 85 event logs
requirements for backing up 108 locations 132
resizing 98 reviewing 132
restoring 124 existing backup copies
restoring virtual disks on 124 mounting 122
returning space to (NFS only) 97
scanning to determine virtual machine alignment 101
scheduling backup jobs using SnapCenter 114 F
searching for backup copies of 121 failed consistency snapshots
unable to discover on a Storage Virtual Machine 133 considerations for restore operations backed up with
VSC backup and restore features 14 VMware 121
deduplication feedback
checking the state of 91 how to send comments about documentation 137
enabling 91 files
default credentials attaching virtual disks 125
for storage controllers 73 files, log
setting for storage system 73 collecting 129
delta disks
not removed during restore 134
detaching G
virtual disks 126
guest OS
discovering
installing scripts 39
hosts 76
setting timeouts for Linux 40
storage systems 76
setting timeouts for Solaris 42
discovery
setting timeouts for Windows 42
correcting unknown storage system name 80
timeout values 38
enabling for vFiler units 75, 76
manually adding storage systems to VSC 77
Disk.QFullSampleSize 36 H
Disk.QFullThreshold 36
disks hosts
detaching virtual 126 configuring multipathing and timeout settings for
restoring 125 ESX 35
documentation discovering 76
changes to this guide 7 mounting datastores on 97
how to receive automatic notification of changes to httpd.admin.enable option 75
137
how to send feedback about 137
I
information
E about known problems and limitations 128
email alert notifications how to send feedback about improving
configuring 54 documentation 137
email alerts locating in this guide 8
specifying for backup jobs 108 information in release notes
email notification errors 133 release notes information 128
Emulex FC HBA timeouts 36 installation
140 | VSC 6.2.1 for VMware vSphere Installation and Administration Guide
J N
jobs Net.TcpipHeapMax 36
creating backups for virtual machines, datastores, or Net.TcpipHeapSize 36
datacenters 113 NetApp Communities
modifying job properties of scheduled backup 118 See Communities
NetApp Support Site
troubleshooting information 128
K NFS
kaminoprefs.xml enabling datastore mounting across subnets 55
modifying to enable datastore mounting across NFS datastore backups
subnets 55 mounting a backup fails 133
kaminosdkprefs.xml NFS paths
modifying to enable datastore mounting across changing frequency of optimization checks 56
subnets 55 changing to direct access 83
indirect path 82
NFS VAAI Plug-in
L installing 33
NFS.HeartbeatFrequency 36
Linux
NFS.HeartbeatMaxFailures 36
setting timeouts for guest OS 40
NFS.HeartbeatTimeout 36
linux_gos_timeout-install.iso
NFS.MaxVolumes 36
guest OS tool 40
locations of log files
listed 132 O
lock management
VSC 15 object
log files storage system 60
collecting 129 vSphere 60
logs objects
errors 132 storage systems 58
events 132 vSphere 58
locations 132 on-demand backups
message 132 performing 112
reviewing 132 OnCommand System Manager
troubleshooting 132 See System Manager
operations
mounting backup copies 122
M optimization checks
by setting the frequency of NFS path 56
memory requirements
organization
VSC 23
using this guide 8
message logs
locations 132
Index | 141
P release notes
information available 128
parameters Remove Controller command 79
ESX hosts 36 replacing
path selection policy 36 SSL certificates 48
paths required ports
changing to direct NFS paths 83 firewall requirements 49
permission VSC 49
vCenter Server 60 requirements
permissions backup job 108
vCenter Server 58 resources
plug-ins discovering and adding 76
supported with VSC 12 restore operations
ports attaching a virtual disk 125
VSC communication ports 49 considerations when using data backed up with
preferences files failed VMware consistency snapshots 121
what they are 55 enabling AutoSupport messages for 53
privileges from backup copies 121
example of assigning privileges 61 mounting backup copies 122
example of View privilege 65 restoring datastores 124
native vCenter Server 58, 60 troubleshooting 130
product level 65 Restore wizard
Virtual Storage Console 65 using to restore virtual machines or disk files 124
VSC specific 58, 60 restoring
protection about 14
lock management, using 15 resumption
protection of system resources of suspended backup jobs 119
using lock management 15 role-based access control
provisioning See RBAC
datastores 85 roles
provisioning and cloning configuring with RBAC 68
about 12
S
Q
scbr.override file
QLogic modifying default values 130
FC HBA timeouts 36 purpose 130
iSCSI HBA IP_ARP_Redirect 36 Schedule Backup wizard
iSCSI HBA timeouts 36 configuring alert notifications 54
using with SnapCenter to back up virtual machines
or datastores 114
R using with the VSC backup feature 115
RBAC scheduled backup jobs
about 57 adding a virtual machine or datastore 117
configuring 68 deleting 119
considerations when upgrading VSC 26 for virtual machines or datastores 115
Data ONTAP 66 modifying job properties 118
Data ONTAP privileges 57 of virtual machines or datastores with SnapCenter
Data ONTAP roles 67 114
standard VSC roles 62 scripts
vCenter privileges 57 choosing for backup jobs 108
vCenter Server 58 technical report with information about backup
registering scripts 108
Virtual Storage Console with SnapCenter 44 scripts, guest operating system (GOS)
Virtual Storage Console with vCenter Server 43 installing 39
reinstallation prerequisites security
removing vSphere Web Client UI extensions from configuring using RBAC 68
Microsoft Windows vCenter Server 29 servers, ESX
removing vSphere Web Client UI extensions from configuring multipathing and timeout settings for
vCSA 28 ESX 35
ways to remove vSphere Web Client UI extensions setting up
28 ESX server and guest operating system 35
settings
142 | VSC 6.2.1 for VMware vSphere Installation and Administration Guide